Stargate: Legacy
by aLadyofAtlantis
Summary: 30 years after Atlantis landed in San Francisco Bay, the children of various Stargate Program members are heading a new expedition back into the Pegasus galaxy. Though a crossover, Atlantis heavy content. New enemies will emerge, and the story focuses on the children.
1. Premise

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the original Stargate Atlantis or SG-1 characters. However, even though I do not technically own any of the new characters, they are 100% creations of my imagination.**

**Author's Note: This is only the premise of the story. Chapters will follow, particularly if interest is generated. Also, in order for the story to develop, I had to make some pairings. Hopefully no one is too angry about various pairings. Comments, questions, and advice very welcome.**

Stargate: Legacy

Location: Stargate Command, Earth. Atlantis, Pegasus Galaxy.

Time: Approximately 30 years after Atlantis landed in San Francisco Bay.

Characters: John Sheppard, Rodney McKay, Teyla Emmagan, Ronon Dex, Jennifer Keller, Carson Beckett, Amelia Banks, Jack O'Neill, Daniel Jackson, Samantha Carter, Vala Mal Doran, New Characters.

New Characters: Meredith Rose McKay, John Emmagan Sheppard, Torren John Emmagan, Jack O'Neill IV, Westley Dex, Araden Dex, Tera Mal Doran.

Premise: 30 years after Atlantis left the Pegasus Galaxy, it is heading back, but this time there is a new team of explorers. The children of great Stargate Program members are now taking command of the city, prepared to defend the universe against an up and coming threat that the Atlanteans had almost forgotten.

New Character Summaries:

Dr. Meredith Rose McKay, PhD in Astrophysics, Computer Science, and Ancient Technology: Daughter of the great Dr. Meredith Rodney McKay and Dr. Jennifer Keller, Meredith followed in her father's footsteps and also became the first student to graduate with a degree in Ancient Technology. A little arrogant like her father, she is humbled by her mother's kindness that spread to her. Light brown hair with hints of blonde, blue eyes, favors her mother. Age 26.

Lieutenant John Emmagan Sheppard, PhD in Military Technology and Applied Sciences: Son of General John Sheppard and Teyla Emmagan, John has all the flamboyance of his father, strength and wisdom of his mother, and intelligence from both. Dark hair, green-hazel eyes, looks almost exactly like his father, but with darker skin, courtesy of his mother. Age 26.

Torren John Emmagan, Masters in Humanities, minor in Psychology: Son of Teyla Emmagan and Kanaan, Torren has an unnaturally powerful form of The Gift which allows him to experience cases of precognition. Due to his dark skin and dark hair, as well as general disposition, many members of the Stargate Program are reminded of Teal'c, who is also his mentor. Dark hair, skin like Teyla's, favors his mother but with his father's hair. Age 31.

Major Jack O'Neill IV, PhD in Intelligence, Command Control and Information Operations of Military Stargate Operations: Son of General Jack O'Neill and General Samantha Carter, Jack is preparing to take a leading role in the Stargate Program in the future. Known for his wit and intelligence parallel to his dad's, he is widely respected for his age. Blonde hair, blue eyes, has father's nose and chin. Age 30.

Special Operative Westley Dex, PhD in Covert Operations: Son of Ronon Dex and Amelia Banks, Westley has all of the snarkiness of his namesake from the Princess Bride, all the abruptness of his father, and all the fighting talent of his parents. This may have led to a developing arrogant side of him. Interned with the FBI at a young age, thus granting him advanced positions and special privileges usually associated with an operative of older age. Blonde hair (though no one knows why), hazel eyes, does not mirror parents, tall. Age 28.

Special Operative Araden Dex, PhD in Covert Operations, Ancient Technology: Daughter of Ronon Dex and Amelia Banks, Araden has all the quiet intelligence of her mother, intensity of her father, and fighting skills of them both. This may have led to a developing arrogant side of her. Like her older brother, she interned with the FBI at a young age, thus granting her advanced positions and special privileges usually associated with an operative of older age. Almost exactly mirrors her mother, with dark hair and green eyes, but only a few inches shorter than her father. Age 26.

Dr. Tera Mal Doran, PhD in Astromedicine, Major in Linguistics: Daughter of Dr. Daniel Jackson and Vala Mal Doran, Tera spent many years of her youth helping her father in his studies, but ultimately became one of the first students to receive a PhD in Astromedicine, or medicine pertaining to diseases and treatments beyond Earth. Tera is most unlike her father, instead favoring her mother's mischievous nature, but can be serious when needed. She also favors her mother's looks almost exactly, with black hair and green eyes, often people mistakenly call her Vala. Age 27.

New Character Connections and Important Points:

Jack O'Neill IV is in training to replace the current leader of the Atlantis Expedition, General John Sheppard.

John Emmagan Sheppard will eventually lead the Atlantis-1 team (Also known as First Atlantis Reconnaissance Team) on off world missions. That job now belongs to Lt. Colonel Denise Cadman, niece of Colonel Laura Cadman, wife of Carson Beckett.

Meredith McKay is being instated as Head of Science and Research because the previous generation is retiring or dead. Rodney will oversee her progress for a short time before allowing her to take the reins.

Carson is similarly training Tera for her position as assistant to the current head doctor, Steven Drew.

Westley and Araden are using their intensive CoOp training to train all personnel on the New Atlantis expedition in some form of self-defense or hand-to-hand combat.

Westley and Araden are known for working together very well and are often called "The Dex Duo".

Tera's flippancy and sometimes lack of professional attitude is causing few medical patients to trust her with their injuries.

Torren John is often off base due to his efforts as Teal'c's mentee in the cause of uniting the universe.

Torren John is also known alongside the Dex Duo for his physical combat prowess.

John Emmagan Sheppard is a possible love interest for many women on the base, though particularly Meredith.

John Emmagan Sheppard and Westley Dex get along famously, and enjoy blowing things up together, which sometimes gets them in trouble.

Meredith hates being treated condescendingly by any of the other scientists because she is younger than most of them.


	2. Chapter 1: Meredith

*Meredith*

The city was… breathtaking. Beautiful and magnificent. Ever since her father had revealed to her the true nature of his and her mother's work, the idea of Stargates had enchanted and intrigued her. Upon learning of the city of Atlantis however, she had been enchanted a thousand times more so. Coming to the city itself was a whole different realm. And it really was. Though Atlantis now rested far into the Pacific Ocean, 30 years after it had journeyed from the Pegasus Galaxy, it was returning home.

"Hello, I am Lieutenant John Emmagan Sheppard. Welcome to Atlantis, personnel." Meredith drew her gaze away from the brilliant Ancient Architecture and focused on the dark-haired man addressing the sea of future Atlantis personnel that had come through the gate from the SGC with her.

"Atlantis will be leaving shortly, as you all are aware, to return to the Pegasus Galaxy and continue the intent of the original Atlantis expedition- to learn more about the universe around us." Meredith watched the Lieutenant crack a small smile before continuing. "So it would be greatly appreciated if you all took to your rooms and fastened your seatbelts until we are safely in the air." As the crowd remained quiet, the Lieutenant ran a hand through his messy hair and sighed. "Hard crowd to please, I see. Alright, please find your chambers. If you get lost, well, just call for help over earcoms."

Meredith touched the small metal button in her ear at his reference to the devices her father had helped inadvertently create to serve as a communication unit that only required thought to engage the system.

"Lieutenant!" Meredith watched her father, the great Dr. Rodney McKay, make his way through the crowd of Atlantis personnel trying to get to their rooms to stop in front of the Lieutenant. Though her father was only going to be on Atlantis for the three required weeks to reach the Pegasus Galaxy and one more upon arrival in order to help her adjust to the position of Head of the Science and Research Department, she knew her father well, and that he could create incredible amounts of trouble in one month. So she followed her father to where he had just reached the Lieutenant.

"I'd like to see John Sheppard." Meredith heard her father say.

"That would be me. "The Lieutenant replied.

"No-no-no-no-no. I mean John Sheppard the first. Damn him, naming his kid after him so he gets to be called 'the first'". Rodney tacked that last part on as an afterthought, muttering.

The Lieutenant bit his lip before speaking again; sounding as though he was having trouble keeping his temper in check. "My father is General John Sheppard, and you will treat him as such."

Rodney McKay rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I'm sure he loves all the prestige, but let me tell you, Bratlett, I have known your father and saved his life a million times before you were even born. I can call him whatever I like. Hell, I could even call him Johnny-boy!"

Meredith's eyes widened at her father's blatancy, and now verging on the edge of humiliation, she elbowed her father. When the old man noticed her presence, he grumbled about "finding him myself" and walked up the Gateroom steps and out of her sight.

Meredith turned her eyes apologetically back to the Lieutenant. "I am very sorry for my father's behavior. Being known as 'the great Dr. McKay' has gone to his head, sir."

The Lieutenant's grim face relaxed at her words. "Aah, I was warned about your father, miss. I suppose that makes you our new Head of the Science and Research Department?"

Glad that crisis had been averted, Meredith allowed herself a half-smile and dropped a mock curtsy. "At your service, sir. However, may I warn you that I am not nearly as capable of doing the impossible as my father is."

The Lieutenant returned her smile and bowed. "Call me John, miss. Though I would love your name so that I may refrain from calling you Dr. McKay or miss."

Meredith frowned, realizing her lack of manners at properly introducing herself. "Meredith. My name is Dr. Meredith Rose McKay, PhD in Astrophysics, Computer Science, and first PhD graduate in Ancient Technology, something my father was highly envious of."

"Well, Meredith." John Sheppard II picked up her bags. "If I may have the pleasure of escorting you to your room via transporter?"

"Of course." Meredith smiled and watched him go, quickly following him, though unsure of how to tell him of her fear. She knew that the General and his family, as well as a few gate teams, had remained on Atlantis for the past thirty years, effectively caretaker. That meant John had lived his life here, and knew the city much better than what she knew of its vast technology. Though she knew the properties and schematics of the city, she knew nothing of its physical presence, and did not exactly like the idea of being transported from one point in space to another. When they reached the transporter, John stepped in nonchalantly, and waited expectantly for her.

"Coming?"

Meredith took a few hesitant steps forward. "Does it hurt?"

John looked confused for a second before realizing what she meant. "The transporter?" He laughed. "No!"

Slightly reassured, Meredith stepped in beside him as the door closed. He entered the destination and turned to her mischievously. "I was lying. It actually hurts like hell!" Meredith's jaw dropped a good foot as, frightened, she tried to process what he was saying, but within moments they were transported painlessly and the door opened.

"Not so bad, huh?" John gave her a cocky grin before leaving the transporter. Meredith managed to close her mouth before following him to her room.

"Here you are, miss, stay here until we have exited the atmosphere." Meredith just frowned at him.

"John Sheppard, I could slap you for that stunt you pulled!"

"But you didn't." Again with the cocky smile. "You know what, Meredith? I like you. You've got brains and a little hidden spunk. My father, the General, is placing me in charge of the First Atlantis Reconnaissance Team, also known as AT-1, as soon as the current leader retires when we reach the Pegasus Galaxy. I'd like to have a scientist on my team, as your father was on my father's. Care to join?"

Meredith remained quiet. She knew little of Atlantis, and had only been through the Stargate once. She needed to time to get adjusted before making such a commitment. But John seemed to sense her thoughts.

"Just think about it, okay? I know you're brilliant, and we'll have plenty of brilliant fighters as well on the team. It would be a pleasure to have your services as well." John bowed again and turned, walking back the way he had come.

Meredith watched him go before entering her room, convinced that somehow she would end up agreeing anyway.


	3. Chapter 2: Tera

**Author's Note: I apologize in advance for the lack of Dr. Beckett's accent. Also, please stick with me as the characters develop before the action begins. But do not despair! There will be action!**

*Tera*

"Tera, love, please don't do that!" Dr. Tera Mal Doran was content to ignore Dr. Carson Beckett's pleas until he ran over to her and removed the vials from her hands by force, then turned her to face him. "Love," he said very seriously, "You must understand that Dr. Drew prefers his medicines sorted by type rather than alphabetically!"

Though Tera was in her late twenties, she was the perfect picture of a spoiled child as she wrinkled her nose at Carson. "But Carson, you said yourself that it was preferable to sort them alphabetically!"

Carson frowned at her quotation of his words. "Yes, I did, didn't I. However, Dr. Drew is the Head Medical doctor here, and you are only his assistant. That means doing things his way, I'm afraid."

Tera wriggled out of his grasp and pointed at him with a winning look on her face. "Yes, I am his assistant, aren't I. Which means I need them convenient, which means I can sort them my way!" Tera resumed sorting the vials of medicine, humming a happy tune as she did so.

Carson stepped forward to stop her again, but she put her hand up to stop him and spoke with a most serious look on her face. "Look, doctor, I have already been on this flying contraption for a week and I must say learning the ways of the fabulous Dr. Drew is increased tenfold when I can't even find the Tylenol!" Carson raised his hands in defeat, and Tera continued sorting. "What does he know anyway, that makes him so special? Huh?" Tera meant it as a rhetorical question of course, so she was more than surprised when a deep, masculine voice responded.

"Hello, Dr. Mal Doran. How pleasant to see you doing something. Even if perhaps it deliberately undoes all my work. And in response to your question, I was accepted early to college and was in medical school by the age of twenty. By the age of twenty-five, I was known for my brilliant surgery work and was hired by the SGC, where I worked for the past ten years before being relocated to the Atlantis base where I am now the head doctor." The man who had walked up behind Tera and Carson was no stranger to Tera. His deep voice and exotic features courtesy of his European father and Asian mother made him exceedingly attractive to many women on base. But Tera was only ever annoyed and displeased in his presence. Though only eight years her senior, Dr. Steven Drew treated her like a child and never trusted her judgment until he himself had looked over a situation.

That was what most bothered Tera. Though she often acted childish and reminiscent of her mother, she was an excellent doctor devoted to her patients and confident in her ability as a doctor. Yet Dr. Drew continuously treated her otherwise.

"Dr. Mal Doran, please, would you give me and Dr. Beckett a moment? We have matters to discuss." Though Dr. Drew said it simple enough, Tera did not miss the way he looked down his nose at her.

"Of course, your Majesty." Tera spared no loathing from her voice as she dipped into a deep curtsy before spinning on her heel and walking out of the infirmary to the mess hall.

Carson would not even be here long. He was only here to help Tera adjust until she and Dr. Drew would feel capable enough to handle various medical situations on Atlantis. So why did he and Dr. Drew have "matters to discuss"? Dr. Drew should be discussing matters and situations with her, not Dr. Beckett.

Wandering into the mess hall, Tera noticed few people were there, save some early birds like herself. However, she did notice a particular light brown haired woman sitting in a corner by herself, tapping away on one of the newer tablets from Earth. As a medical doctor, she had little use for them, but they were fun, as they sustained a magnetic field that allowed them to hover over surfaces, and therefore not fall to the ground and break, something beneficial for someone as clumsy as she.

The young woman Tera had seen looked like a lovely opportunity to become acquainted with someone other than the stuffy Dr. Drew, so she grabbed a bowl of yogurt and fruit and headed over to the woman.

"Dr. Tera Mal Doran, assistant to Dr. Steven Drew. May I sit here?" Tera extended her right hand to the woman, who looked up, startled, before moving her empty tray out of the way.

"Yes, yes, of course," The woman stood and accepted Tera's hand before introducing herself, and Tera noticed her hair had a distinct auburn tinge. "Dr. Meredith Rose McKay, Head of Science and Research."

"Aah. The great Dr. McKay, daughter of the even greater Dr. McKay and Dr. Keller!" Tera sat down and winked at Meredith across the table. "You know, your mother was my medical idol for quite a while!"

Meredith blinked in surprise. "Really? That's very interesting. I am sorry to say that I know nothing about medicine, however.

"Yes, really. You see, my father is Dr. Daniel Jackson, a linguist, and my mother is Vala Mal Doran, SGC's resident thief and troublemaker. Or at least she used to be." Tera was reminded of her mother's antics and the stories she had heard about them.

"Oh! You don't say!" Meredith snapped her fingers in a manner most like her father. "I've met your father before! My father and he worked together sometimes, though from what I've heard, they didn't work together well."

"Yes, I have heard the same." Tera smiled and tilted her head to the side, and those who know Vala well would have said the manner was unnervingly similar. "Anyway, when I was young I was a lot like my mother, but then I grew interested in linguistics, and eventually I settled on medicine. I'm all about saving lives and all things noble, you see." Tera lifted her chin and raised her right arm in a fair impression of the Statue of Liberty, which Meredith found highly amusing.

Once Meredith was able to compose herself, she eyed Tera and bit her lip. "You know, Dr. Mal Doran, just because our fathers did not work well together does not mean we cannot."

"Please call me Tera, as I am going to call you Meredith no matter what you call me." Tera rethought that last bit, adding, "Well, actually, if you call me poophead at all, I will be liable to call you fartface. Otherwise, you'll be Meredith. But I agree," She continued, "We should try to work together. And what could be better at getting people to know each other well than sparring?"

Meredith's smile quickly faded off her face. "But I have never sparred in my life. My father seriously condones exercise."

Tera stood up and pulled up her companion with a large smile on her face. "Well, what do you know, I have never sparred either! Yet we are all required to learn some form of hand-to-hand self-defense, so what better time than the present?"

Meredith's smile returned, and as Tera escorted Meredith out of the room arm in arm, she decided that perhaps the flying contraption had its plusses.


	4. Chapter 3: Araden

*Araden*

Tall and lean, trained for many years as an FBI operative, Araden Dex had good reflexes and was sharp on her toes. But even if she hadn't been, she would have heard the voices of the laughing women from a mile away. Convinced two laughing women would pass by the sparring room this early in the morning, she continued doing her yoga, balancing in the dancer pose.

"Hello?"

Araden ignored the voice, hoping that it would leave her alone. No such luck.

"Excuse me? My friend and I would appreciate learning some self-defense? We have heard that you are the specialist." Araden kept her eyes closed, breathing in and out, blocking out the annoying sound that she did not want to deal with at this time of the day.

"Come on, Tera, it looks like she is busy right now. We will come back later. Or we could find the other guy. What did the General say his name was? Westley Dex?"

Araden started at her brother's name, but did not fall. Though she and Westley were at odds as to who would train the most Atlantis personnel, these two sounded particularly annoying, and she decided he could endure their company far better than she.

"No, Meredith, I am pretty sure she just wants us to go away." Araden heard the one named Tera inch closer as her voice grew louder. "However," Tera's voice came right into Araden's ear. "We will not leave until we have properly learned some self-defense!"

Angry, Araden opened her eyes and dropped from her pose into a crouch and knocked the woman closest to her over. "I will not be bothered, thank you very much."

The raven-haired woman lying on the mat simply smiled and jumped to her feet. "See, Mer? I told you!" She brushed herself off and extended a hand to Araden. "Dr. Tera Mal Doran, assistant to Dr. Steven Drew. Pleased to meet you."

Araden ignored the hand and instead turned her intense gaze to the woman closer to the door, with light brown hair, though with auburn hints, and blue eyes. "Special Operative Araden Dex, former FBI Operative."

The other woman looked around, as if unsure of herself, before responding, though Araden noticed that she wisely did not extend her hand in greeting as Dr. Mal Doran had done. "Dr. Meredith Rose McKay, Head of Science and Research." Araden nodded in approval at the woman's simple statement. A quality that she had picked up from her father, Araden always believed that simple was better. Unless a situation came to maybe blowing something up. Then the answer was always blow it up.

"You would like to learn self-defense? Then here." Araden swiftly picked up two sets of bantos rods and handed them to the women. She then briefly described the correct stance before demonstrating. Both Meredith and Tera had fairly good stances, though Tera was holding one stick entirely upside down.

For another good hour, Araden showed the women typical moves, the proper stances for them, and stretches that would increase their flexibility required for some of the moves. Araden soon grew frustrated with their lack of skill however, and had to calm herself many times in order to not lose her temper. One of these times, Tera noticed her loud sigh as Araden yet again corrected Tera's handhold on one of the rods.

"What? We aren't good enough for you?" Tera stood straight now; rods forgotten limp at her sides, angry that there was another person treating her like a child.

"Yes, in fact." Araden lifted her chin arrogantly. "You two are absolutely despicable at this. I hope neither of you ever end up off-world or in a compromising situation."

Both Tera and Meredith were shocked at her words. Meredith dipped her head, but Tera threw the rods to the ground in disgust.

"You vile woman! We are only beginning! Who in their right mind would put such a terrible person in charge of self-defense training! Most of the people you will be teaching will have little or no experience, and you can't expect them to become better with words like those!" Tera's brow furrowed greatly as she sized up Araden, but deciding it was better not to come to physical blows, she simply threw her an angry glance over her shoulder and stalked out of the sparring room.

Moments passed after Tera left the room. Araden simply put her rods in a corner of the room and resumed the same pose that she had been in before her interruption. Meredith awkwardly stood there for a moment before putting her rods away as well.

"I am very sorry for Tera's outburst. Thank you for your time." Araden opened her eyes at the woman's words and turned her head slightly to meet Meredith's eyes. "If it is any consolation, you were much better than her and I think a little practice would do you good."

Araden watched as Meredith's face visibly brightened. "Really?"

Araden turned her head away and closed her eyes again. "No, not at all." Standing there in the pose, Araden had almost achieved perfect balance when she felt a large figure crash into her side.


	5. Chapter 4: John

*John*

"Who do you think you are? Wait, don't answer that, I know. You think you are the best fighter ever." John stood up from where he had knocked Araden over. "Well, I've got news for you. Maybe you are. But that doesn't mean you get to verbally abuse members of this expedition!" John ducked as the tall woman he had come to talk to swung a bantos rod at his head.

"Not pulling any punches, eh? Well, let me tell you, I've got a few good punches myself!" John faked left and dropped low before popping up again and socking Araden square in the jaw.

"John! What are you doing?" John tore his focus away from Araden for one second to look at Meredith and was knocked clean of his feet. Fortunately, a discarded bantos rod was near his hand, which he picked up and used to block a vehement attack from Araden.

"Just dropping by for a little bashing, you know." John joked before rolling away from another of Araden's attacks. "Actually, I was just watching your session from the adjoining room when I heard it all go down." This time John launched his own attack on Araden and managed to tip her off balance, before kicking her in the knee.

"Why?" Meredith called, trying to get a good look at John without getting too close to the fighting.

"Haven't you noticed me stalking you?" John said, fairly positive his joking tone would tip her off to the joke. Unfortunately, another one of Araden's blows, this time to the shoulder kept him from seeing Meredith's horrified expression.

Spinning one of Araden's rods out of her hand by spinning his body around, John caught Meredith's expression from the corner of his eye and rolled his eyes at her gullibility. "I'm kidding! Araden's brother-" Here John ducked under Araden's arm and popped up on her other side, "-Westley Dex, and I have gotten pretty chummy in the last week." John ducked again as Araden's remaining rod swung dangerously close to his head. "He agreed to join my A team, something you have yet to do, my dear," Sheppard looked pointedly at Meredith, who blushed, "And suggested that I ask the services of his sister as well." John aimed for Araden's head, but missed, sending him off balance, and Araden's next punch caught him in the gut.

Araden looked surprised at John's words, but said nothing, only taking advantage of her hit and pinning him to the ground. Still, Sheppard turned his head in Meredith's direction and continued, "Which is why I came to watch her fight and fight with her, where I saw the whole scene blow over, and which is how I have now ended up on the floor." John said that last part with his eyes firmly on Araden's face.

Araden looked at him suspiciously for a moment before getting off him and offering her hand. John cracked a half-smile at her, but seeing her impassive face, he instead spoke to her wishes. "Well, Araden, you have proved yourself a worthy foe. However, if you should chose to join my team, I expect no more behavior like what you displayed towards the two women earlier, do you understand?" Araden simply grunted before leaving the room.

John turned his attention back to the only woman left in the room, and he saw the same nervousness he had seen when she had walked into the transporter. "What do you say, Mer? I still need a scientist."

Meredith frowned and bit her lip, something John ad begun to notice her do in abundance in the last week. "But you heard her, John; I can't fight to save my life!"

John laughed. "Neither could your father, Mer. And for what it is worth, neither could mine. He lost to Araden's father every time they walked into this room. But he was still one hell of a leader, and I intend to do the same."

Meredith's nervousness faded, but it was replaced but curiosity. "If your father could not fight, John, how did you become so good?"

"My mother, Teyla Emmagan, is known for her fighting prowess. Though I am nothing in comparison to my half-brother, Torren John Emmagan. NO doubt you will meet him once we arrive in Pegasus. That is, if you are on my team, Mer." John gave her a knowing smile.

Meredith's previous emotions were replaced by a mischievous look good enough to match Sheppard's own. "One condition, Lt. John Sheppard." She walked over to the door and swiped it open.

John continued to flirt with her, and raised an eyebrow. "What is that, Mer?"

Meredith gave him a beautiful wide smile. "Don't call me Mer." And with that, she walked out the door, leaving John in the sparring room to chuckle to himself.


	6. Chapter 5: Invasion

**Author's Note: I apologize in advance for grammatical errors-I do not use a beta as this is all for fun. I also apologize for the previous two chapters being short. **

**Character Notes: I apologize for not giving pronounciation. You may pronounce her name whatever way you wish, but the intended pronounciation of Araden is "Air-ah-din".**

**Also, you may notice a certain Control Room personnel being named "Chet". This is an allusion to S5E15, "Remnants" in which Woolsey mistakenly introduces Chuck as "Chet", then pardons himself by saying Chet is on the nightshift. Once Woolsey leaves however, Chuck mutters, "There is no Chet". Well, now there is! But he has the dayshift.**

*Meredith*

Entry onto the planet that was to be Atlantis' home was rather painless. As Meredith mused over her past three weeks on the city of Atlantis, she remembered how General Sheppard had skillfully landed the city, even though he was very old and due to retire. She also remembered how all the technicians argued with her father, who continuously insisted on calling the process Re-entry. Chet, a skilled, young Gate technician, had pointed out that this was the first entry, and therefore not a 're-entry'. Her father had boiled over and muttered something about 'putting blue jello in that bratlett's bed'.

Besides the landing, the last week had passed rather uneventfully. Most mornings Meredith visited the shooting range, for though John had tried to reassure her that neither her father nor his were skilled combat fighters, she felt as though she should have some ability to defend herself. Unfortunately, her shooting skills were not much better than her combat skills. Some mornings she saw Torren John Emmagan, John's half-brother, in the shooting range, and he usually tried to give her some pointers. However, though he was kinder than Araden had been a couple weeks ago, she could still see the disappointment in his eyes at her lack of ability.

Turning down the next hallway, Meredith stopped when she was met with a long hallway, rather than the door to the shooting range. "Crap." She muttered, as this was not the first time she had gotten lost in the large city. Her father always instructed her to carry a tablet, but she felt it unnecessary when she was going to the shooting range, a place she had been several times before.

"Control room? This is Dr. McKay. Come in, please."

"Dr. McKay, this is Control Room." Meredith heard Chet's voice, though perhaps a little nasally.

"I seem to have gotten lost again. Do you think you could locate me and direct me to the shooting range?" Meredith bit her lip. She, like many others, had gotten the ID chip surgery from Dr. Drew. Only a few members had yet to get the surgery, as it required time. However, the ID chip identified her only as Dr. McKay, an identification that also applied to her father.

"Dr. McKay, I hope you are in the East section of the South Tower, because if you are in your labs, then you are very far away from the shooting range." Chet's voice returned over her earcom, and Meredith sighed in relief.

"Yes, that would be me. I believe my father is in the labs."

"Okay, give me a moment-"Chet's voice was cut short. "Actually, there should be someone in the next corridor, closer to the shooting range. Can't tell who, must not have their chip yet."

Meredith started heading in the direction he gave her. "Thanks, don't worry about directions, I'll just ask whoever it is." She jogged into the next corridor, where she saw no one. "Wait. Control room, do you read? There is no one here."

Chet came back over the earcom. "There is another life sign right in front of you, Dr. McKay."

Meredith took a hesitant step forward. "I sure as hell don't see anyone!" She squinted and blinked, wondering if there was something wrong with her vision. "Hello?" She called down the hallway.

"Dr. McKay, do you see anyone?"

"No… wait… Crap!" Meredith saw a form materialize in front of her. Though Meredith knew little about other life forms in the universe, she knew whatever this thing was, it was not human. So she ran.

"Alien! Alien! Control room, there is an alien in this corridor!" Meredith continued running, not surprised to see the alien form chasing her.

"What? What does it look like? A Wraith?" Chet sounded panicked now.

"No…" Meredith huffed, turning random corners and sealing a door behind her. She leaned against it. "It had pale, liquid looking skin, and was much skinnier than a human, but taller." She took a deep breath. "I seem to have evaded it for now, though I could use some backup. All I have is a pistol, and I don't want to shoot if it is friendly." She heard a strange rumbling noise and felt the door behind her rumbling.

"Control room! I need backup now! Doors don't seem to be able to stop this thing! I'm heading to the nearest armory." Meredith ran to the end of the corridor, but looked back in time to see the door shake a few times, then completely dissolve.

*Jack*

"Sir, you wanted to see me?" Major Jack O'Neill IV was surprised that the General wanted to see him in his office when there was at least one alien running around. He was also surprised to see the General relaxing in his chair, not communicating with anyone.

"Ah yes, Jack. Have a seat." Jack carefully sat down in front of the General's scrutinizing eye. "You are aware that you are being trained for my job. You are now aware in these last few weeks what it takes to operate the city and do the paperwork."

Jack made an attempt at a joke. "The ATA gene, sir? I was given the inoculation."

General John Sheppard gave him a half-smile. "Very cheeky, Major. But no, I mean the determination and the sacrifice. However, you have yet to experience a real situation in which you will be called to make decisions. So here is your test. Deal with the alien form in a suitable manner, and not only will I recommend to Stargate Command that you are ready to command the Atlantis base, but also that you are ready to become a Lieutenant Colonel."

Jack said nothing, surprised at the announcement. He was aware that he was the General's replacement, but he had never envisioned it so soon. Suddenly he was struck with a suspicious thought.

"General, I don't suppose that this 'alien' situation is all a set-up?" Jack did not like to be played.

The General's usually rather content face became grim. "No, Major, I assure you this was unplanned entirely. I just believe it is a good learning opportunity for you." Then he chuckled. "My son, Lt. John Sheppard, is also undergoing a similar process. The leader of AT-1, Colonel Denise Cadman, is stepping aside and letting him run the military affairs of this operation. Try not to let him get killed, okay?"

Jack saw the worry in the General's eyes, masked behind the joke. He stood respectfully and bowed. "Yes, sir." Taking one last glance at the General, he turned to walk to the Control room operations, only slightly unnerved by the number of Gateroom personnel waiting for his commands.


	7. Chapter 6: Exposure

*John*

"Dr. McKay, come in. Dr. McKay?" John had been trying to contact Meredith for the past few minutes, but to no avail. She had briefly answered once, but only to request earcom silence.

"Yes, Dr. McKay here." John was relieved to hear a response. "Dr. McKay, what is your position?"

"What? I'm in the labs." John blinked in surprise. Meredith was apparently running away from an alien creature, not hanging around in the labs.

"You are? I've been ordered, along with Special Operatives Westley and Araden Dex, to provide backup to your position, which is supposed to be in the South Tower."

"I am nowhere near the South Tower, thank you very much. What business would I have in the South Tower anyways? No-no-no-no-no, I am staying right here in the labs, completing my scan of the surrounding area, because that ignorant twit Dr. Stupidhead couldn't do it. Getting some strange energy readings, however. Who is this, anyway?" John realized his mistake, and was about to apologize when another voice entered the channel.

"Dr. McKay, this is Dr. McKay. I requested earcom silence. Is that so difficult?" John was glad to hear Meredith's voice, and he remained quiet to let her deal with her father.

"Oh, Mer, they're looking for you! No wonder. What's going on in the South Tower anyway? Technical trouble? I'll be right down."

"No." Meredith's voice was very forced. "Father, do not leave the labs, I repeat, do not leave the labs. Arm yourself. Alien life signs have been detected and I am in the process of eliminating one."

"Earcom silence. Okay, got it. Arming myself. Locking the doors." Rodney continued on, and John barely suppressed a laugh.

"Father."

"Yes, Mer?"

"Turn your earcom off. I can hear everything you're saying."

"Right." John waited a moment until a beep signified Rodney disconnecting his earcom.

"Dr. McKay?" John crept along a corridor in the South Tower, with Araden and Westley trailing behind him.

"What is it, Lieutenant? I requested earcom silence." John could hear the raw irritation in her voice and was reminded of earlier encounters with her father.

"Where is your position? We are your backup." John waved Araden ahead of him, and she held her gun forward, keeping her head alert.

"I am nearing the armory. I'm closing the doors behind me, though that only seems to slightly delay the creature. They seem to be able to melt doors, and even melt into blobs themselves." John heard Meredith's voice dip into a whisper. "Oh crap, I think I see another one." John heard her pant as she started running. "Also, they can turn invisible, and I'm pretty sure regular bullets won't work against them."

"Lieutenant…" Westley warned. John waved him off.

"I'm trying to get to the armory to get some of the newer pistols, the ones equipped with stun bullets? I suggest you use those as well." John hesitated at her words, pretty sure she couldn't shoot a gun to save her life.

"Sheppard, we are under attack!" Westley cried, diving behind a column to take cover before shooting at an approaching blob. Araden, behind another column, did the same, but the bullets had no effect. The blob continued to advance, firing at them bluish liquid pellets that seemed to originate from its own body.

John shot at it a few times with regular bullets before a flying pellet hit his hand. "Dammit!" He cried, wiping the liquid off, to reveal his skin very red and blistering. "Switch to the Stun pistols!" Araden and Westley both looked at him in confusion but did what he said.

"Meredith! Dr. McKay, come in! You were correct, the regular bullets do nothing against the creature." He glanced over at where the creature was taking heavy fire from Araden and Westley. "However, the Stun pistols seem to work better, the creature is shrinking."

"On it, Lieutenant. I'm almost to the armory." Meredith's breathing was very labored, noticeable through the earcoms.

"Dr. McKay, fall back, I repeat fall back. You can't shoot one of those things to save your life!" John knew she'd probably end up injuring herself rather than the creature, from what he had heard from Torren.

"Can't really fall back, John, I'm being closed in on two sides. And I've been practicing, I'll be fine. McKay out." Sheppard cursed. He looked over at the creature, now much smaller and inert, like a strange puddle of water. Araden and Westley seemed to be okay, however.

"Either of you get hit by the blob pellets? They give a nasty blister." John walked over to their respective positions.

Araden pointed to her shoe. "Burned a hole clean through my shoe." John looked down to see a large hole where there had previously been thick leather.

"Dammit, Mer!" He kicked a wall. "That idiot woman is headed to the armory and has no idea how to shoot. She'll just end up shooting herself in the foot." John sighed, then turned his earcom back on. "Dr. Drew, come in, this is Lt. Sheppard."

"Lt. Sheppard, this is Dr. Drew."

John sighed again. "My team and I are back up for Dr. McKay, who we have yet to find, but when we find her, even if the creature hasn't gotten to her yet, she probably is going to hurt herself and need a medic. " John eyed the creature down the hallway. "Also, you may want to send a medical team to our position to pick up one of the downed aliens. But wear hazmat and handle with care. Some of it hit Araden and burned a hole clean through her shoe. It also gave me a nasty blister."

"Yes, sir, I'll send a medic and team to assist you. Please meet the medical team at the nearest transporter."

"Will do." John nodded to his team and they headed down the hallway, though John took a look back at the strange creature that none of the Atlantis personnel had ever seen before, curious as to how it had managed to invade Atlantis in such short time and with such ease.


	8. Chapter 7: Contact

*Meredith*

After finally managing to achieve earcom silence, Meredith had made it to the armory with relatively little trouble. That is, if you discount the various doors that kept melting. Meredith had encountered two of the alien creatures so far, but they both seemed to be able to melt into shapeless blobs, melting the material they touched. John had told her the stun pistols had been more successful in fighting the creatures, so she walked carefully around corridors, a stun pistol in each hand. Meredith knew about the dangers of stun pistols, for although the bullets dissolved into stun energy upon impact, they were a lot more lethal than older stun weapons, and too many bullets could kill someone.

John had warned her… but she didn't have much of a choice. She'd rather risk shooting herself than being defenseless.

Meredith continued down the corridor she was in, sealing doors behind her, when the door in front of her rumbled… and melted. The blob-like creature slithered across the floor, approaching her, when it came to a halt.

"Runi adson catorgikay!" A bubbling sort of sound erupted from the blob. Meredith did not need to understand the language to know the creature was angry. A huge piece of blob came flying at her and hit her arm, where she watched it dissolve the sleeve of her leather jacket.

Meredith raised her arms in what she hoped was a peaceful gesture, as another creature had just come through the door behind her. "Look, I don't understand you, and I don't really expect you to understand me, but," She sighed, certain her words meant nothing. "I don't want to hurt you. I only ran because I was afraid."

The blob continued to sit there until both of them started shifting. Meredith adjusted her position and took the safety off the stun pistols, but she had no need. The blob forms resumed the forms she had first seen one of them in, tall and abnormally skinny for a human, but more human-like than the blob forms.

"Greetings." The alien titled its head, as if getting used to its new form and different language, which sounded very robotic. "I am a member of a race called the Kasarans. Your city, upon arrival, has destroyed one of our growing civilizations. This cannot be tolerated. That is why we have invaded your city."

Meredith took a deep breath. Aliens were certainly not her area of expertise. "How did we destroy your civilization? There was nothing on this planet but water!"

The Kasaran looked at her curiously. "Our plasmatic forms are not unlike the appearance of water, no?" Meredith bit her lip, but the Kasaran did not allow her to continue. "We understand you may not have seen us, but now we expect you to leave. You must also help us rebuild. It took us many years to create our civilization. Would you not expect us to do the same?"

Meredith sighed. It was just like their race to barge in and destroy another civilization, not even on purpose. Helping the Kasarans would still not ever make up for destroying them in the first place.

"Meredith! Get down!" Meredith instinctively ducked, then whirled to see John leading Araden and Westley into the hallway, shooting the creatures. Both wailed, then reverted into blob like forms, throwing the acid pellets at the approaching trio.

"John, no!" Meredith jumped up and tried to stop John, but one of the Kasarans flowed over her to her companions. Meredith tried to move, but found her back ached painfully, and when she touched her back, she felt bloody skin, through the hole the creature had burned in her leather jacket and shirt. Still, she raised her pistol and took aim, shooting a stun pellet at John's leg, almost missing due to her terrible aim. However, it grazed him just enough that it stunned his calf and he toppled over, knocking Westley as he did so.

"John, they never meant us harm!" Meredith cried, still sprawled on the floor. Araden stopped shooting, but continued to look at the now still and small creatures with disdain.

"They didn't, huh? Meredith, you can't see your back, but it's bad." Sheppard crouched down next to her, looking at her bloody back.

Westley and Araden both remained impassive at her injury, more interested in the creatures, which looked very dead to Meredith. She felt tears threatening to leak from her eyes, and she couldn't tell whether it was her back or the sight of the two fighters with so little compassion.

"Hey," John lifted her chin. "You're gonna be alright. Dr. Drew sent us a medical team, and they should be meeting us at our position any moment."

Meredith was about to say something about how she was more concerned about the Kasarans, but when she saw the compassion in John's eyes, she only nodded, before dropping her head back down to the floor, where John continued to stroke her hair.

"Oh, Mer!" Meredith opened her eyes and was able to twist her head enough to see a familiar raven-haired woman running to her side, looking frightened. "Help me lift her onto a stretcher!" Tera called to one of her medical companions, and within moments Meredith was lying face down on a much more comfortable surface.

"You." It took a lot of effort for Meredith to twist her head, but she was able to see Araden glaring at Tera. "You are the medic Dr. Drew sent down here to help us?" Araden's voice was filled with so much disdain that there was no mistaking what she meant.

Tera returned the glare evenly. "Aren't you supposed to be an excellent fighter dear?" Tera's words were mocking and fakely sweet. Araden looked suspiciously at her, but continued to glare as she raised her chin. "Hon-ey," Tera said, drawing out the syllables. "You are supposed to protect your team." She glanced at Meredith's back pointedly. "Doesn't look like you did too good of a job."

Araden snarled, but with a warning glance from John, she said nothing. Tera smiled a bright, fake smile, and wheeled Meredith away, flipping her hair over her shoulder as she did so.


	9. Chapter 8: Research

**Author's Note: I apologize for the short length of the next two chapters, but I felt Jack needed some development, and they would be too long as one chapter. Thank you for understanding and staying with the characters!**

*Tera*

"Ahem." Tera turned to see Dr. Rodney McKay fidgeting behind her, clearing his throat. "Hello, Dr. Mal Doran? Is Meredith still here?"

Tera raised an eyebrow and pointed into the adjoining room of the infirmary. "She's in the same place she has been for the past three days, Doctor. That incident gave her a pretty bad injury."

"Oh. Right." Rodney looked nervous, fiddling with the tablet in his hands. "Well, I'll just go see her then." He angled his head in the direction she had pointed. Tera sighed and followed him, not having anything better to do.

"Ah, still on your stomach I see." Rodney stopped at the bed of his daughter to observe her facedown, splayed position. Tera walked around to the other side of the bed to monitor her vitals.

"Yes, as I said, it's pretty bad, though the skin has started to heal. Hopefully she'll be able to be out of here soon, though I don't advise sleeping on your back for a while yet." Tera looked down at Meredith. Meredith simply pouted and raised her head a little bit.

Rodney chuckled, then brightened. "Did I ever tell you the story of how I got an arrow in my ass? Now, that was painful. Couldn't sit for weeks!" Tera tried to look intrigued, but Meredith cut her father off.

"Only a million times, father. Anything turn up on the scan?"

Rodney's expression turned serious as he returned his gaze to the tablet. "Yes, that's what I came to talk to you about." He turned the screen towards her. "Now, I told you that in fact, once I got the stupid scientists out of the way, I completed the scan, and I did find energy readings and radiation consistent with a civilization. I also managed to discover that those three your team encountered were the only survivors." He looked a little disappointed at that, and Tera saw the same expression echoed on Meredith's face.

"So we killed all of them then." Meredith mashed her face back onto the pillow, angry she hadn't been able to stop John and his team from killing them.

"Yes." Rodney turned the tablet back towards himself and pressed a few buttons before turning it back towards them. "Also, I have determined that they gained access to the city via the underwater Jumper bay, which has been slightly… leaky… since an event in one of the missions in my time."

"Weren't you supposed to fix that, like thirty-some years ago?" Meredith groaned into the pillow, very loudly.

"Well, yeah, but at the time I was trying to save the city from Replicator invasion, coupled with the Daedalus going to blow the city up!" Rodney looked fairly indignant. "Then after that I was busy saving the city many times from Michael and the Wraith! When we finally got to San Francisco, I was pretty busy getting married and bringing up a child, hello!"

Meredith opened one eye and rolled it dramatically at him. "Sorry!"

Rodney huffed before drawing up another screen, full of ancient. Meredith gasped, but Tera was blown away.

Rodney measured their reactions, looking proud of himself. "Yeah, I found a mention of them in the Ancient database! Kasarans. Surprised we didn't meet any on the previous expedition, the galaxy is crawling with them!"

Tera tuned him out, reading the symbols. The one thing she rarely told people was that besides being a doctor, she was a major in linguistics as well. At a young age, her mother had encouraged her to play and be free, but as time passed, she found herself spending more time around her father's workplace, actually interested. Before long, her father explained everything he knew, and that was when he told her of Stargates. Powerful creations that could take you anywhere. Then she had learned that not only her mother was an alien, but she had an ascended half-sister locked in a continuous battle with another ascended being. Vala claimed not to miss her other daughter, as she had grown up fast and away from home, but Tera could see her sometimes look at herself and want to call her Adria.

If this database was correct, then nearly every inhabitable planet with a Stargate and water had, at one point, housed a civilization of Kasarans, and they were nowhere near dying out.

"…Unfortunately, I don't know much more Ancient than you, Mer, so I don't know exactly what this says." Rodney looked ruefully at his daughter, who was now propped up of her elbows, scrolling through the database.

"I do." Tera didn't say it very loud, but both Dr. McKays immediately turned their attention on her. Both looked confused, but Meredith's confusion cleared when she remembered a key piece of information about Tera.

"Your father." She said simply, knowingly. Rodney, of course, knew not who her father was, and continued to look confused.

"I'm sorry, what?" He leaned closer to Tera, eyebrows raised.

Meredith shifted position again to face her father. "Her father is Dr. Daniel Jackson."

Rodney looked both amused and surprised at the same time. "You don't say? Him and Vala? Well!"

Tera crossed her arms and looked at Rodney, wondering how a genius such as he could continually save the lives of the people of Atlantis, yet not piece together the identity of her father. "Yes." She nodded, "I spent much time around my father's work. I also happened to major in Linguistics."

"Great." Rodney wasted no time in snatching the tablet from his daughter and bringing it to hover in front of Tera. "What can you tell us?"

Tera threw her head back and laughed, then laughed some more at the expressions on the faces of the Drs. McKay. "A lot!" She chuckled, before bringing over two more chairs and getting down to business.


	10. Chapter 9: Enemies

*Jack*

"Sir?" Jack knocked on the doorframe of General Sheppard's office, nervous about coming to the General's office again, so soon.

John Sheppard I looked up and Jack saw weariness in his eyes, something he had not expected from the General, although he was old.

"Yes, Major, sit down, please." The General did not sound in as nearly as high spirits as he had on their previous encounter. "I've been reviewing the mission reports from the A team you ordered for backup, and there seems to be some good and bad news."

Jack swallowed, concerned about his executive decision to only send one team of three to help the Head of Science and Research, something that might have been the ultimate cause of her injury.

However, General Sheppard seemed to sense his concern. "Don't worry Jack, you did well. However, the mission wasn't requirement enough to prove your worth, so unless something comes up in the next few days before the senior personnel departure, the IOA plans to bring in another civilian leader."

Jack wrinkled his brow. "What do you want me to do, sir? Get into a fight with an alien group of people and handle it diplomatically?"

"No, no." The General chuckled. "From what Dr. McKay tells me, it appears as though we have killed all the Kasarans. Fault of my son, I believe." He shook his head with a sigh, before continuing, "However, I would appreciate, as would the IOA, if you conducted research into this race, and possibly find if there are any survivors on other worlds, and handle that diplomatically-" He paused for effect, wanting Jack to see where this was going, "-then perhaps the it could be recommended to the IOA that you are a fit leader for this expedition."

Jack brightened. He didn't have to do anything particularly hard, just conduct some research. That could be done fairly easily, with the help of a few scientists.

"Yes, sir. I'll get right on that, sir." Jack stood up and bowed to the General.

"Wait, Major." Jack turned back to face the General. "Remember that you only have four more days. So be quick, otherwise IOA personnel are gonna be crawling around this city." He winked at him.

Jack opened his mouth to come up with a smart reply, when Chet's voice called to General Sheppard from down the glass hallway.

"General Sheppard! Unscheduled off-world activation!"

John Sheppard stood up and motioned for Jack to follow him, muttering as he walked over to the Gateroom control panels. "Damn… hoped I wouldn't be here for one of these."

Jack followed him, noting the multiple lights that flashed, the various beeping sounds, and the iridescent shield over the gate.

"Sir, we have no one off-base. Shield is raised." Chet looked up at the General standing in front of him.

General Sheppard bit his lip in concern, looking at the gate expectantly. "Any gate activity? Anyone coming through the wormhole?"

Chet shook his head, continuing to watch the gate schematics. "No… wait… there is a request to make visual transmission contact." He looked up again, questioningly.

"Okay." The General nodded. "Patch me through." He walked over to the screen so he could be seen by the dialer on the other side. Jack followed him, cautiously moving around the various implements.

"Hello, this is General John Sheppard, commanding leader of the city of Atlantis, Pegasus Galaxy." Both John and Jack waited for an image to appear on the screen. However, the sound came first.

"Hello, General John Sheppard. This is Commander Antica of the Kasaran planet Bedar." Jack took a glance at the General, and when his eyes returned to the screen, an image of a strangely translucent creature had appeared, similar to the descriptions noted in the mission reports.

Both John and Jack were stunned, so neither said anything as the Kasaran continued. "We regrettably have been informed that upon your arrival into the Pegasus Galaxy, you destroyed one of our civilizations. Now, this is to be expected from a lesser society, but we had hoped that your knowledge would allow you to prevent such a catastrophe."

"Hey!" Jack watched the General's face contort into an indignant expression. "We never meant to kill anyone!"

"However, when given the opportunity to redeem yourself and help the few survivors rebuild the civilization, you denied them and instead, murdered them." The alien creature, though its features were rather fluid and its body see-through, was obviously angry. "Therefore, you cannot expect us to sit back and let you hurt and destroy more of our kind. We will be seeing you soon, General John Sheppard."

The image faded out of focus, and the screen went black. "Wait!" Called the General, but to no avail. The gate disengaged and the wormhole was closed. The General looked to Chet for confirmation, and Chet shook his head, signaling that they were gone.

Jack watched, stunned at what had transpired, as General Sheppard simply sighed and ran his hand through his unmanageable hair before ordering various personnel to make preparations for an attack, and inform the SGC of what had happened. Then, he turned to Jack and looked at him curiously.

"Well, Major, it appears as if we don't have to go to the Kasarans. They're coming to us."


	11. Chapter 10: Support

**Author's Note: Sorry this chapter is a little slow, but the team needed some ships. And Torren needed some time.**

**Ship Notes: The F-306 Firebird-class ships are all named after classical ballets. Also, those of you who know ballet well may recognize that the commander of The Firebird is named Michael Fokine, which is a variation on Michel Fokine, the choreographer of the ballet and first ballet dancer to play the role of Prince Ivan. Likewise, Lt. Colonel Reed Lincoln of The Orpheus is a play on Lincoln Kirstein, George Balanchine's partner is founding the Ballet Society, where the Orpheus ballet came into being. I was going to name him Nicholas Magallenes after the first Orpheus dansuer, but Lt. Colonel Magallenes sounds strange. Lt. Col. Kathyrn Archa's name has no significance because the people involved in the first Swan Lake production had decisively Russian, long, names.**

**There's a bit of Ballet history for you. :)**

*Torren*

Torren took a breath, gazing around the Gateroom of Atlantis, before letting his eyes meet those of his mentor, Teal'c of the Jaffa. Under Teal'c's guidance, Torren had traveled the various galaxies via Stargate, conversing with other worlds and trying to make peace. Once Stargate Command had informed them of the situation on Atlantis, the pair had mutually agreed that there was no better place to try and make peace than in the Pegasus Galaxy, with the Kasarans. Torren was surprised at what had happened in his absence- he had left for the SGC from Atlantis only two days before the incident, and already he was being called back. In the event that they were unsuccessful in achieving peace, the SGC had flown them to Atlantis on two of their newest Firebird-class F-306 ships, The Swan Lake and The Orpheus. Torren and Teal'c had been beamed down by The Orpheus, which had established an orbit with The Swan Lake, waiting for the next ship, The Firebird.

"Torren John Emmagan." Torren moved his gaze away from Teal'c to focus on a decorated gray-haired man walking down the Atlantis steps. "Teal'c." The man bowed his head to Teal'c in a polite gesture.

"General." Both Torren and Teal'c replied. But as soon as the formalities were complete, the General encompassed Torren in a big hug. Torren returned the hug back, careful not to crush his father's frame.

"Torren John, my boy, it's only been a few days, but I'm pleased to see you." General John Sheppard stepped back from his son before pressing foreheads with him. Torren experienced a moment of sadness, realizing just how old his father was, then had to look away as he remembered his birth father's death.

"TJ, bro! Long time no see!" Lt. John Sheppard sprinted into the room before grasping his brother in a hug. Like his father, the Lieutenant also released from the hug before touching foreheads. "How long has it been, TJ? 10 years?" Torren knew John was joking. He had been here last week, prior to the incident that had required his return. John gave Teal'c a respectful greeting as well, then stepped back next to his father, and Torren noticed the large number of personnel standing in the Gateroom for the first time.

"General, why are there so many personnel here? All here to greet Teal'c and me?" Torren looked at his father curiously.

The General smirked slightly. "No, Torren. Actually they are all here to greet The Swan Lake and The Orpheus essential personnel, but the personnel seem to be absent."

Teal'c stepped forward. "I believe they are still debating over which ship should engage in what level of orbit. They should be here momentarily."

Torren leaned in close to his father. "Let's just say the commanders don't exactly get along well." General Sheppard gave him a knowing glance before speaking to the crowd at large.

"Atlantis personnel! Attention! I have called the Heads of the Departments here to meet the Commanders of two new Firebird-class ships, which may or may not be permanently stationed in Atlantis. However, they are not here yet, but I will wait to make necessary introductions until they arrive." A number of Atlantis personnel muttered amongst themselves, before a man Torren recognized as Dr. Rodney McKay spoke up.

"John, I thought The Firebird itself was coming, no?" Many of the other personnel murmured their assent, hoping to have a more senior ship be their protector from the possible Kasaran threat.

"Indeed." Teal'c responded from the General, and with a glance from John, continued. "The Firebird and its Commanding officer Colonel Michael Fokine, who I believe you have met before, are on their way."

There seemed to be a collective sigh by the head personnel of Atlantis at Teal'c's words, but they all began to make more noise as two columns of light signified the entrance of the ship commanders.

Torren saw his father nudge a tall, blonde-haired man forward, and though at first the man looked confused, his features straightened and he walked over to the commanders with pride.

"Hello, Commanders. I am Major Jack O'Neill IV, future leader of the Atlantis base. Atlantis welcomes you."

The two commanders looked at each other fairly meanly before the blonde-haired woman stepped forwards. "Hello, Major. Lt. Colonel Kathryn Archa, commander of The Swan Lake." She fixed her bright blue eyes on him before stepping back, though far away from the man beside her. He grimaced at her before stepping forward, and Torren noted the stark contrast between the major's light features and the commander's tall and dark ones. "Hello, Major. Lt. Colonel Reed Lincoln, commander of The Orpheus. Pardon our later arrival; sometimes we have trouble establishing a stable orbit." He glared at Colonel Archa, indicating exactly what he thought his problem was.

"Colonel. Colonel." The Major bowed to each of them in turn. "I think you ought to meet some of our personnel." He motioned Lt. John Sheppard forward, followed by Dr. Drew, Dr. Meredith McKay, and the Head of the Astrobiology department, Dr. Penelope Lorne, amongst others.

Torren chose that moment to step closer to his father and disengage himself for the various introductions he was sure to take a while. He watched his half-brother smile winningly at Colonel Archa, and heard a comment from the snarky Dr. Rodney McKay nearby.

"Look at your kid, John. A regular Kirk, romancing all the women. Not unlike you, at all." John waved off Rodney's comment with a smile.

"Yeah, he's my kid alright. Can't blame him though, that Colonel Archa is something." Rodney faced the General indignantly.

"General John Sheppard, she is the age of your son!"

John waved his hand again. "Come off it Rodney. I'm an old dying man. Don't I get to joke around a little?"

Rodney huffed. "You've had enough women to last you a life time." He grumbled some more before straightening. "Guess I'm not needed, for once. I'll head back to the labs and see what else I can dig up on the Kasarans."

Dr. McKay didn't even wait for approval before stomping back up Atlantis' steps, albeit slowly. General Sheppard watched him go for a few moments before turning back to watch all the introductions. When he noticed Torren beside him, he met his eyes.

"Looks like these proceedings are gonna last awhile. Wanna go get something to eat? We've got a lot of catching up to do."

Torren nodded. "Indeed." He replied, echoing his mentor, before taking one more glance around the Gateroom and at the personnel, wondering at the beauty of the city he had lived in all his life, and the people that made it what it was.


	12. Chapter 11: Preparation

**Author's Note: I apologize for the lack of updates, I am in New Hampshire on vacation and I have been for two weeks, so I have been rather busy. Also, I have been experiencing a bit of a writers block, which probably has more to do with the lack of updates than the vacation does, but oh well. I think I have an idea where this will be heading soon, so hopefully more chapters are on the way! (Accompanied by Kasarans...)**

**Also, I really would appreciate reviews, so that I know if people are enjoying reading my work as much as I enjoy writing it! Thanks to all who are sticking with the story!**

*John*

"Alpha formation, Bank left, bank left!" John watched in dismay as various parts of the alpha formation went in a variety of directions. To his right the Beta formation was having a similar lack of luck, and the Gamma formation had all taken a course in the complete opposite direction from their intended target. He sighed, sure that if he wasn't flying an F-305 Alpha-class fighter jet, he would have run his hand through his hair.

"Okay, okay, fine. Alpha, return to formation. Beta and Gamma units, do you read?" John waited for the responses of Captains Anna Harrington and Matthew Lear.

"Captain Harrington to Major Sheppard, what are your commands, sir?" John started at the use of his new rank. It was strange indeed for one to be promoted so easily, but since last week most senior personnel had returned to Earth exempting his father and Dr. Rodney McKay, the IOA had refused to let a Lieutenant run the military operations on the Atlantis base, meaning a replacement for John, or a promotion.

"Captain Harrington, return to The Orpheus."

"Yes, sir."

When Captain Lear finally responded to John's calls, John similarly instructed the Gamma unit to return to the Flight Bay of The Swan Lake. Once both the Beta and Gamma units had retreated, John led his unit into the Flight Bay of The Firebird, glad that the experienced ship had finally arrived only the day before.

Walking onto the bridge on The Firebird, Major Sheppard sighed again heavily. The new F-305s were giving even the most experienced pilots huge amounts of trouble. It had been a week since the Kasaran threat, and although John trained the potential pilots every day, they improved little. The slim tear-drop shaped jets were hard to maneuver, as they were powered by thought, and few pilots could clear their heads enough to make the Alpha jets go where they were supposed to. Although Major Sheppard knew that Dr. McKay had stayed behind in Atlantis to assist Meredith in making the jets easier to use, he was not consoled, as the Kasarans could appear at any time. Originally, Meredith had been working on expanding the range of the long range sensors, until her father had reminded her that it didn't do any good to know if the enemy was coming if they couldn't fight them.

Sheppard made eye contact with Colonel Fokine, and with a slight nod, Sheppard and his pilots were beamed down into the Atlantis Gateroom.

"Major." Sheppard nodded to Major Jack O'Neill, who was standing on the balcony with a most unhappy expression on his face. However, his face cleared slightly at the sight of John.

"Major." Jack nodded respectfully. "Any news or developments?"

John waited until he was close enough to O'Neill so that the others couldn't hear. "I'm afraid it isn't looking much better, sir. A few of the more advanced pilots are managing and some others as well, but no matter how much experience you have, it isn't helping. I need the Drs. McKay to fix this now."

John began to walk out of the control room when he heard Major O'Neill clear his throat. He stopped, not in any mood for bad news, and slowly turned around. Upon turning around , he noticed an expression flash across the Major's face before he regained an impassive face. John tilted his head as he recognized the expression- he knew it well as he had warn it often- mostly in the presence of his father, seeking approval. Sighing again, he stepped forward, close enough to the Major so only the two of them could hear the words he said.

"Major Jack O'Neill, you are the future leader of this base. You have no need to seek the approval of me, your military leader, who until a few days ago was only a lieutenant."

John Sheppard stared evenly at the Major, and he saw the change in his eyes as Major O'Neill soaked in his words.

"Major Sheppard. As you should be well aware, Dr. Meredith McKay is still in the infirmary due to her injury sustained in the course of a previous incident, and Dr. Rodney McKay is busy explaining the finer points of the new Firebird-class ships to their commanders and technological personnel." He paused, looking at John with a measure of decisive authority. "Therefore, neither of them can attend to your requests. However, I have employed the next most capable people in the position of attending to the problem. Do you have a problem with my decisions, Major?" His eyes grew increasingly more intense, and John dipped his head in a respectful gesture.

"No, sir. I have no problems." John waited for a dismissal from his commander, but Major O'Neill only grabbed him by the arm and led him to the Gateroom Conference room.

"They are currently conducting a seminar of sorts, Major, on the properties of the Firebird-class ships, and I would like you to attend the discussion." John followed the Major as he stepped forward and the automatic doors swung open to cacophony.

"The reason The Orpheus must establish the closer orbit to the planet is because its Gravitational balance system is still out of whack due to The Swan Lake getting its systems fixed first after the last mission!" Lt. Colonel Lincoln was wagging a finger at Kathryn Archa, who looked quite calm for the amount of screaming coming from the Colonel's mouth.

"May I remind you, Reed Lincoln, that the reason it was damaged in the first place was because of your idiotic wild goose chase plan to chase the Wraith into a corner of a galaxy where we became trapped?" The blonde woman simply examined her nails, but the dark-haired man stood up from his chair and stalked over to her.

"Lt. Colonel Archa," he said with contempt and disgust, "We were there due to information you obtained from a past mission that no one else can verify." Some spittle flew from his mouth, and John saw Dr. Rodney McKay flinch at the front of the room, eyes and mouth wide.

Colonel Archa snarled and stood. "Are you calling me a traitor, dear sir?" She leaned in close to him, menacing. "I can take all the stupid insults, I can take having to orbit a little farther away from the city, but I will not take being called a traitor!" Lincoln leaned into her, equally as menacingly, and for a moment the room was silent as the two simply growled at each other.

"Lady, Gentleman, please!" Major O'Neill implored, seemingly a little confused at his word choice. "Colonels, please." They both turned to look at him, fiery expressions on their faces, though Archa cracked a smile at John.

"We are civilized, or so I'd like to hope-"The Major paused to observe the two fighting Colonels, the angry technicians rapidly neglecting his words and typing away, and the various deserted coffee cups and napkins from pastries around the room, as well as the cocky young technician with his feet up on the table and ear buds in. "But if we are fighting amongst ourselves, we are no better than the Kasarans accuse us of being." By now, the personnel had all returned their attention to their various tasks, including the aforementioned Colonels, so Major O'Neill just sighed. "Alright, fine, I know I sound cliché. Just don't rip each other apart." He shook his head and glanced at John before exiting the room, leaving John to face geeky technicians, Colonels with personal vendettas, and the ego of Dr. Rodney McKay.


	13. Chapter 12: Arrival

**Author's Note: I apologize again for the gap in writing, I recently arrived back home. I hope to continue with my former posting schedule of one chapter a day, but I can't make any promises.**

**Behold, some Kasarans!**

**Enjoy, my lovely readers.**

*Tera*

"Dr. Meredith McKay. As my number one patient, you should not be attempting to return to your normal responsibilities!" Tera stalked into one of the science labs to find the aforementioned Dr. McKay lying on her stomach, discussing various things with her personnel that circled around her and passed various tablets in front of her face.

Meredith barely gave Dr. Mal Doran a glance before returning her attention to another tablet in front of her.

"Oh, hello, Tera. How are you?"

Tera, angry at Meredith's flippancy, stormed over to the cot her friend lay on and yanked away two of the tablets Meredith was looking at, and threw them over her shoulder at a non-descript destination.

"Aaaugh!" Tera winced at the sound of pain behind her. Meredith simply stared at her friend, but Tera turned sheepishly to see a technician holding his head, and the two tablets floating above the ground near him. She apologized, and once confirming that the technician was unhurt, turned her attention back to Meredith, who was holding yet another tablet.

"Give me that!" Tera yanked away the third tablet and this time was more careful to dispose of it next to her. "Meredith Rose McKay, you are an injured woman and I am your doctor. Therefore when I tell you that you may not return to your duties, you will not, do you understand?"

Meredith only shrugged, and Tera was surprised at her friend's and her own behaviour. Usually it was Tera acting rash and Meredith being sensible, yet in this occasion where Meredith's health lay on the line, it was she who chose to act rashly and Tera who was acting at the voice of reason.

"Look Meredith, I know you are important to this city and its survival, but I am sure that anything you are doing can wait."

Meredith twisted her head so she could better see Tera, and looked at her directly in the eye. "Tera, you listen to me. The Kasarans are on their way, and we know very little about them, other than what you have managed to unearth with the linguistics team. We do know, however, that because of our actions they are not arriving in peace. Lieutenant- Major- Sheppard is reporting serious inconveniences with the Alpha jets because of the way they operate. Our defense levels are low enough as it is, and without the Alpha jets in working order, we will have even less defense capabilities. All I have heard since the Kasaran threat is technical complaints, and I have been lying on my face for over a week, unable to help in any way."

Tera relaxed her face and tense body, and the tension in the room grew noticeable less, especially as the various technicians and personnel stopped watching the two women and proceeded to their duties.

"Meredith, I'm sorry. I know you feel useless, but you have to stay in the infirmary. I don't know if something else may be happening to you as a result of the incident. Perhaps you could continue working there?"

Tera watched in alarm as Meredith shifted her weight and slowly made to sit up. Tera moved to stop her, but Meredith glared at her with such fury and temperament that Tera surrendered and looked away.

"Tera Mal Doran. The bandages have been removed from my back, and I can sit up, albeit with some pain." Tera's eyes widened at that, but Meredith continued. "Nothing that can't be helped with a little painkillers, I assure you." She took a deep breath and gazed steadily at Tera. "However, the Alpha jets can't be helped from the infirmary and they certainly can't be helped by some painkillers. I must work from here, with all the information and personnel at my disposal. It can't wait."

Tera continued to grow more surprised with Meredith at every word. Meredith was completely out of character. Meredith had been the perfect patient for the past week and a half, and even when they did quarrel, it was rarely Meredith who was so defiant in her decisions. Tera knew this was a battle she could not win.

"Fine, Mer. You stay here under one condition. I post myself and another medic by your side at all times until I pronounce you fully healed, and also you subject yourself to one more scan in the infirmary. Surely you have time for that?"

Meredith seemed surprised she had gotten her way, but she quickly masked her surprise and nodded. Tera sighed and helped Meredith lie back down face first, and began to push her out of the lab room when Meredith raised her hand and motioned at Tera to stop.

"Hang on, Tera, I'm getting an earcom request from the Control Room." Tera paused her motion of the cart and looked at her nails, bored, as Meredith accepted the transmission from the Control Room and listened. Tera briefly glanced up from her nails to Meredith's face, and did a double take when she saw how pale her friend's face had grown.

"Meredith?" She questioned, moving around the side of the cot to be nearer to her friend's face. "What's wrong? You're deathly pale!"

Meredith's eyes had glazed over, and she thanked the person on the other side of the transmission before finally focusing her eyes on Tera. "There's no time, Tera, no time."

Tera was confused, and she furrowed her brow. "What do you mean, no time?"

Meredith slowly sat up again and spoke to all the lab personnel, who were steadily gazing at their department head. "Attention personnel! We are out of time. The Control Room has picked up an alien ship heading this way on the sensors that can only be the Kasarans. They will be here within the hour."


	14. Chapter 13: Approach

**Author's Note: At this point, the focus character is going to change more often because more is going on. Just a heads up.**

**Extra thanks and virtual pastries from my favorite bakery, La Toscanella to my one reviewer, The Layman. Everyone else, watch out for Kasarans hiding under your bed.**

**As always, thanks for reading!**

*Westley*

Westley grunted in response to the message on his earcom, then walked back towards the cluster of Atlantis personnel he had been training. He paused, not really wanting to be the one to reveal the news, but knowing it was his duty. However, he was saved by the voice of Major O'Neill echoing over the city-wide speakers.

"Attention Atlantis personnel. Please enact the various procedures for Code Red. That is all. Thank you." Westley winced at the harshness of Jack's words. They were clear in their meaning, but for many personnel, they would do little to assure them nothing would go wrong.

The personnel in the sparring room with him looked at him briefly, as if expecting a joke, but they all knew it was coming eventually. Code Red meant danger, invasion, and such, and the only threat the Atlantis personnel knew of was the inevitable Kasaran one. So the personnel gingerly put the weapons they were holding in their respective places, and quietly filed out of the sparring room. Westley watched them go, but he expected that he would be needed by either his sister or Major Sheppard soon.

"Beep. Transmission request from Special Operative Araden Dex." The automated voice echoed in his ear, and he was about to accept the request when another beep sounded. "Beep. Transmission request from Major John Emmagan Sheppard."

Westley desperately wanted to talk to his sister, who was always the first person he talked to in a crisis, as they had the same ideas and thought processes in these situations, but he knew by duty he was required to put her off.

"Major Sheppard, Special Operative West-"

"Yes, yes, I know who you are; I sent you the damn transmission request." John cut Westley off. "I need you and Araden to meet me in the Gateroom. Major O'Neill has some Intel for us. Sheppard out." Another beep sounded as Sheppard turned off his earcom.

Westley shook his head and grunted, before pulling his shoulder-length blonde hair into a low ponytail and belting on his weapons belt. In hand-to-hand combat, he never used any of the fancy gadgets given to him by the FBI, but this wasn't hand-to-hand combat. This was war.

*Meredith*

"Okay, everyone, we have a lot to do and only one hour to do it!" Meredith clapped her hands and within moments had directed various personnel to the areas that she deemed most important.

"Dr. Bell!" A tall black man with a shiny bald head looked over to Meredith. "I want you finishing that sensor-scrambling program! If we are cloaked and they can't tell where we are, they can't fire on us!" Dr. Bell nodded, and turned to a large computer screen where he immediately began typing away.

"Dr. Wallace!" A short red-haired man turned to face Meredith from where he was consulting a group of other scientists. "That doesn't look anything like the power-enhancing program I assigned you to. Don't tell me you are as incompetent as my father says you are!" The red-haired man looked sheepish before walking away from the group of scientists.

"Speaking of which, where is my father?" Meredith looked around, and not seeing her father, remembered he had been in the Gateroom conversing with the ship personnel. She glanced around for a moment before pointing at a scrawny looking fellow with large glasses. "Stevens!" The man didn't acknowledge her, only staring at her. She frowned. "Simons?" She guessed, unsure of his actual name.

The scrawny fellow echoed her frown and crossed his arm before speaking in a nasally voice. "My first name is Simon, lady. My name is Dr. Hubbard." Meredith rolled her eyes. "Okay, Mr. Cupboard. I don't really care at the moment; I'll learn your name later. But would you be so kind as to find my father, inform him of my plans for the Alpha jets, and bring him to this location?"

Simon merely pushed his large glasses up his nose and sniffed before walking out of the room. Meredith groaned in both pain and annoyance as she sat down, feeling her back. Tera told her the skin was mostly healed, but the remnants of the injury were still causing her undue amounts of pain.

Tera now stood beside her, watching her with worry. After Meredith had received the news via transmission, and then subsequently by citywide methods, she had put her group into action, and Tera had stepped back, knowing that there was no time to worry about Meredith's health when the city was at stake. Now, however, Tera would do whatever possible to help her friend get along.

"Mer?" Tera stepped up to her and peered at her face, which she was trying to hide by looking downwards.

Meredith groaned and grimaced again before raising her face to Tera's. "Tera, this is no time for you to be a doctor. I just need you to bandage me up and give me all the painkillers you got." Tera opened her mouth to inform her of the multiple buts. "No buts, Tera. You can have all your scans and such once this is all over."

Tera only sighed and nodded in agreement before leaving the busy lab, hoping that once the ordeal was over, there would still be something left for her to scan.

*Jack*

Jack paced around the Gateroom. He knew he was making the nervous personnel even more nervous, but he wasn't sure what to do. As leader of the expedition, he was not allowed to also run the military operations, something that he wished to do. But he trusted General Sheppard, and he would have to extend that trust to his son.

"Major O'Neill." Jack lifted his head to see Major Sheppard approaching, closely followed by his half-brother, Torren John Emmagan. Jack had a hell of a lot of respect for Torren and his mentor Teal'c, and almost wished that Torren's peacemaking abilities could be of use to them. However, you can't really make peace with someone who doesn't even want to talk to you.

"Major Sheppard. Torren. Will your team be joining us?" Jack shifted his body so he stood taller and in a more commanding stance.

"Yes, we will, Major." Jack shifted his glance past Major Sheppard to see the woman who had answered him and her brother.

"Good. Then I will inform you of a few things." He paused before leading them over to where one of the Gateroom personnel, Cassidy Woods, was moving some items around on a large sensor screen.

"Oh crap." Jack turned to see John's jaw drop, followed by surprised looks on the dignified faces of Torren, Araden, and Westley.

"Oh crap, indeed." Jack sighed at the sight of the twenty or so dots on the screen that were rapidly advancing towards the location of Atlantis. "We are going to cloak the city, but Dr. McKay has just requested that a team infiltrate one of the ships and spread a virus that her teams are working on. She thinks if it can infiltrate one of the ships systems, it will spread wirelessly to the others and cause their systems to go haywire. Then we can work on negotiating a truce." Jack looked closely at his head of military. "Think you can handle it? Dr. McKay intends to participate on the mission as well."

John glanced at the screen next to Cassidy before locking eyes on Major O'Neill. "And suppose this plan fails, Major?"

Major O'Neill gave him a small, forced grin before spinning on his heel and walking towards his office. "See that it doesn't, Major."


	15. Chapter 14: Departure

**Author's Note: This chapter is a little more explanatory than action-focused, I hope to provide little bits of humor :)**

**Also, I would like to thank my now TWO reviewers, The Layman and sheppardlover98. La Toscanella is a little expensive, so today you get Virtual Oreos. (Don't ask, I am really in the mood for Oreos.)**

**And as always, I appreciate those of you who take the time to read my work.**

*Araden*

"What are you doing here?" Araden snarled at Tera, who walked calmly into the Jumper Bay behind Meredith. Since the sparring room incident a few weeks ago, Tera had been acting cold towards Araden, something that Araden usually approved. However, Tera's actions were causing other Atlantis personnel to look at her suspiciously, and Araden could not stand that. As the best hand-to-hand and possibly all-around fighter on Atlantis, she felt she deserved some respect.

Tera turned her bright green eyes on Araden for barely a moment, but the look she saw there was so riddled with hatred that Araden felt compelled to move away. "Dr. McKay is still severely injured, so I will be accompanying her in case of medical emergency."

Araden just snorted before turning and walking up the Jumper ramp. Major Sheppard sat in the pilot seat, messing with some controls, and Araden sat down next to him. Her brother sat behind her, and Meredith soon came and sat behind John, with Tera behind her.

"Flight, this is Jumper One, request to exit Jumper Bay?" Araden watched John speak into the newly installed communication units in the Jumpers.

"Jumper One, this is Flight-" Araden recognized the nasally voice of the Gate technician Chet over the com unit, but, like the other members of the team, was surprised to hear his voice cut off and replaced with the more familiar one of Major O'Neill.

"Give me that, dammit!" There was a scraping sound on the other side of the unit that caused Araden to uncharacteristically furrow her brow. "Okay, Jumper One, permission granted." The Bay doors above them opened and John began the elevation of the aircraft.

"Major Sheppard. As the leader of the Atlantis expedition, it is my duty to remind you that this mission is imperative to the safety of the city. I also would like to remind you-"

Araden sighed as she heard another familiar voice argue in the background with Major O'Neill after Jack cut himself off.

"Ahem, it appears that I would also like to remind you that your father wants to speak with you." Araden could hear the discontent in O'Neill's voice, and she was compelled to laugh at his misery.

"John Emmagan Sheppard. This is your father, John Sheppard the first. You've got the wisdom of your mother and my astonishing good looks, so I expect this mission to be a success. Do me proud." Araden watched the color grow on John's cheeks as he felt humiliated by his father's words.

"How touching. Very nice." Araden saw John's relief at the return of Major O'Neill's voice. " However, there is one more thing I would like to tell you-" Again, Jack was cut off to the sound of more arguing. When his voice returned, it was precedented by a loud sigh. "Apparently I would like to also tell you all that Dr. McKay has a message for you."

Araden glanced at Meredith from the corner of her eye and saw the woman's face instantly redden. This time, she did laugh, and Tera gave her an evil glare.

"Ah, hello Mer. And the rest of the team. Well, Meredith, I just wanted to…um… remind you that I am a genius, and you were….erm…lucky to have some of that passed on to you. Right. Also, you can do the impossible, don't listen to that son of Sheppard's, because you are almost…as much of a genius as I am… and um, well… the McKay's do things best under pressure. Yes, well. Bon voyage. Don't do anything stupid. And keep your head up, Mer. Yes, alright. Bye." Araden laughed again at Dr. McKay's words, and had to stick her hand in her mouth to keep from laughing too audibly. These people were seriously such messes!

"Okay. Finally. Anyone else have anything else I must apparently inform this team? No? Good. I just wanted to let you know, Major Sheppard, that you have exactly thirty-eight minutes before the Kasaran ships come into weapons range of Atlantis. How strange a number, no? Anyways, good luck, First Atlantis Reconnaissance Team. O'Neill out."

Major Sheppard adjusted a few more dials before lifting the Jumper out of the bay and out of the cloak range of the city. The team stared out the large window, watching the city cloak itself, before John thought it smart to do likewise. Araden saw concern and worry on the face of her team members, though she wondered what exactly was so scary about some vengeful creatures made out of jello.

*John*

"What do you mean; 'we'll cross that bridge when we get there'?" John stabilized the Jumper before swiveling his chair around to face Meredith. She glanced up at him briefly before continuing to tap away on the tablet she was holding.

"Meredith," John said in a warning tone. When she didn't even look at him, he stuck his face much closer to hers. "Meredith Rose McKay, as your leader on this team and mission, you answer me when I ask, how are we supposed to board the ship?"

Meredith just looked at him a little sheepishly while biting her lip. "So I didn't think of that, okay? I was busy lying on my face and trying to fix the Alpha jets and work on this sensor-scrambling program!"

John ran a hand through his hair in disbelief. "How do you expect us to run the program if we aren't on board? What do you think they are going to do, just open the Flight Bay doors?"

"Uh, Major-"Araden spoke from next to him, but he was in no mood to put up with the arrogant fighter.

"Not now, Araden." John didn't even look at her before yanking the tablet from Meredith and dropping it next to him so Meredith would look him in the eye. "Brilliant child of the genius Dr. Rodney McKay, please do tell me how we are going to get inside."

Meredith narrowed her eyes for a minute before they widened as they focused on something behind her. "Major, I think you should return to flying this Jumper, sir."

John gritted his teeth. "You will not tell me what to do, doctor. You will, however, instruct me on how to enter the ship."

Meredith looked at him skeptically while also look terrified of something behind him, but John saw her eyes turn hard and her face daring as she next spoke. "Oh, I think I will, sir." She gave him a teasing half-smile before spinning his chair back around.

John immediately grabbed the controls to the Jumper as soon as he processed what he was seeing, but it was already too late. Indeed, the Flight Bay doors of the Kasaran Mothership had opened, and now John had inadvertently piloted his team and the Jumper directly into the mouth of the beast.


	16. Chapter 15: Capture

**Author's Note: Wow, this chapter is long! We get a little view into the Kasaran ships here, and some of Araden and Westley's FBI technology.**

**Thanks for reading!**

*Tera*

Tera glanced around at the faces of the AT-1 team, and seeing expressions varying from confusion to fear to utmost fear, she decided to lighten the mood, and leaned forward to speak.

"Well, I suppose that Meredith didn't open the Flight Bay doors, huh?" She eyed them all, and when they just gave her looks ranging from Meredith's 'not now, Tera' to Araden's 'go die in a hole', she raised her hands in surrender and leaned back into the shadows of her seat.

Finally, John found his voice. "We're still cloaked." He began adjusting some dials and managed to land the Puddle Jumper on the floor of the Bay. "They can't see us."

"Do you think they know we're here?" Westley looked mostly calm, but Tera could detect a hint of nervousness in his voice.

John peered out of the Jumper. "Unfortunately, yes." He motioned to the several tall, skinny, translucent figures standing around the Jumper. Then, he turned and faced the rest of the people in the Jumper. "They shouldn't be able to sense where we are when we are cloaked, should they, Meredith?"

Meredith looked more nervous than the rest of them as she picked up the tablet and consulted it. "Unfortunately, we don't know how their technology works. It could be advanced enough to detect us, even while we are cloaked."

"Fabulous." John said sarcastically while running his hand through his hair, and Tera was beginning to become worried at the lack of ability of the team.

"Listen, all we have to do is plug in the tablet, right?" She looked at Meredith for confirmation. When Meredith nodded, she continued. "Well, we obviously are either stuck here or we can go get captured and try to escape. So," She stood up and pulled her stun pistol out from where it was strapped to her leg. "I vote we go. Atlantis is in danger."

John looked at her briefly for a moment with the strangest expression before nodding and standing up. "Okay, Meredith. All we need to do is protect that tablet." He looked around, but Westley and Araden simultaneously pulled out silvery sheets of material from their vests. They stared at each other a moment before Araden put hers away. Westley grunted for the tablet, which Meredith reluctantly gave to him. As soon as the material passed over the tablet, the tablet shrunk in size and took on the appearance of a mirror.

"Only an illusion. It makes the object appear reflective." Westley handed it back to Meredith with a grunt. She marveled at it for a moment until they heard muted sounds of gunfire. John looked out the Jumper for a moment before turning on the shield instead of the cloak.

"So they know where we are and they are trying to get us to come out. This keeps getting better." He looked back to the team. "I guess the time is now." He checked his stun pistol on one leg and regular pistol on the other before hoisting his AT101 to the ready position. The double barreled guns were created as replacements for the previously used P90s, designed with a barrel for bullets and a barrel for energy stun blasts for the intention of use by the Stargate Program. The weapons had even been constructed by SGC personnel in order to keep their existence secret.

"Wait." Tera had all eyes on her as she walked up to Westley and examined him and his weapons belt for a moment. "I don't suppose you also have some actual way to hide this, do you?" She motioned to the tablet-now-mirror. Westley just stared at her, so she moved away. "I thought not." Grabbing the tablet, she tucked it into her vest, and before anyone could move or say anything she had opened the hatch door to an angry group of tall, shimmering Kasarans with their weapons trained straight on her.

*Meredith*

All of John's yelling made Meredith want to call a Kasaran guard closer and tell it to shoot John. He was going on and on, berating Tera for not giving him any warning against the Kasarans. In typical Tera fashion, she simply shrugged and plopped down on one of the two cots. "It wasn't like we were going to get past thirty armed angry anorexic jello people anyways." She said, before rolling over to face the wall. This only made John madder, so Meredith removed the reflective cloth from the tablet Tera had snuck in and promptly pulled it over John's head.

Tera smirked at John's reflective face, trying to pull the cloth off, and gave Meredith a grateful nod. Meredith was glad herself. Now she could finally figure out how to upload the virus from this jail cell.

"Dr. McKay." Meredith had barely turned on the interface for the program when Araden motioned her over to one of the sleek steel walls. As Meredith approached, she saw that Araden had used some sort of knife to pry off one of the tiles and expose power conduits.

"Excellent!" Meredith moved in front of Araden to poke around, but she stopped instead and turned to face Araden. "Where did you get the knife? I thought they removed all our weapons."

"Clearly, their mechanisms of removal are faulty." Was all Araden said before moving out of the way to let Meredith work.

At this point, John had managed to remove the reflective cloth with a little help from Westley, who was now returning it to a pocket inside his jacket. Although the Kasarans saw little need for clothing, in the process of removing the team's weapons and vests, they had generously left them their shirts, jackets, pants, and combat boots, as well as paltry belongings, such as a few of Westley's rubber bands, and the "mirror" that Tera claimed she needed to admire herself every few minutes. Araden had snickered at that, which although it had made the Kasarans suspicious, they had only locked the team in a steel jail cell with a few very thin bars that emitted crossing lasers. Tera had found out the hard way that the lasers stunned, and probably still had yet to regain the use of her left hand.

"Meredith, what on Earth was that for?" John stalked over to where she had found a place to finally plug in the tablet. She glanced up at him briefly.

"You forget we aren't on Earth anymore, John." When he looked at her rather meanly, she only bit her lip and adjusted a few wires. "You wouldn't shut up and let me work!" She said apologetically before checking her watch. She lifted her arm and showed him the countdown on it. "16:23:56 before weapons range, John. Sixteen minutes. Just let me work." Meredith was glad as John walked to the bars, where Westley was studying them closely. Meredith glanced up to check the position of the guard, who hadn't moved from his post 500 yards down the cell block for the last five minutes, when she noticed a glint in Westley's hand. Moving closer, she saw him touching a small shiny black stick to the bar, where it was noiselessly emitting a powerful green laser that had already cut most of the way through one of the bars. She had to laugh at that, and John gave her a look that immediately made her return to her work.

Glancing at the countdown a few minutes later, Meredith began to grow nervous. It had already been almost six minutes just to create the first bypass of security, and she didn't know how many more were left. It didn't help that John was wordlessly watching over her shoulder.

"Almost done, Mer?" He teased, bright eyes meeting hers as she turned around.

She bit her lip before gritting her teeth. "No, Major. I am one person, and this takes time, and you can't make me go any faster. Now it is one thing if you could help, but-"She was turning a most unbecomingly shade of purple that she had often seen her father turn when under pressure, but that wasn't what stopped her rant.

"I can help." Araden stood up from the cot she had been sitting on, flipping her switchblade up into the air and catching it. Meredith narrowed her eyes, assuming a joke, but Araden walked closer. "No really. I have a degree in Ancient Technology. Here." She took the tablet from Meredith and enabled its dual screen feature, allowing two different things to be occurring at once. She turned one side to face Meredith and the other herself, before typing away without another word. Meredith watched both screen nervously until she saw that, in fact, Araden knew what she was doing. Relaxing, Meredith was able to complete the next bypass in much less time than the first.

"Here." Araden switched the screen again, spinning it. Meredith noticed Araden had completely the simple busywork on the third bypass, and had left the quicker calculations to her. Meredith was about to complain about having to do the hardest work, when she realized that perhaps she was as clever as her father always said, and the things that she thought only hard, others found impossible.

As Meredith and Araden typed on, consulting occasionally, (mostly Meredith talking with Araden answering in grunts) and switching the screen every so often, the next bypasses were done in a blur, and although John and Tera had come over to watch the two work so effortlessly together, it hardly bothered Meredith.

"Okay. Initializing final bypass, now." Meredith tapped on more button, and sighed with relief as the screen blinked the message: Program Loading…. Program Loading… Program Loading… Program Complete.

John patted her on the back in what was meant to be a gesture of congratulations, but only ended up causing her pain in the area of her injury. She also realized her stiffness at that moment, and would have collapsed to the floor if Tera had not used her trained eye to detect a problem with her patient and bring Meredith over to the bed.

Meredith closed her eyes for a moment before glancing at her countdown. It read 00:53:21. Now she could only hope that the sensor- scrambling program worked and that it was enough to protect Atlantis until the Kasaran threat could be absolved.


	17. Chapter 16: Escape

**Author's Note: Time to get off the ship. A little more depth into the minds of Westley and Araden than usual. Some threats. Cool tech. Yada yada.**

**Also, I wanted to let you lovely readers know that I probably won't have time to post more until Monday. May or may not be going to Canada to see a relative's newborn baby girl!**

**I'm glad you all are sticking around even more so than Meredith's painful injury :)**

*Westley*

As soon as Westley had been placed into the cell by the Kasarans, he had known the question of escaping was not a matter of if, but when. So he had silently consulted the few items he had managed to hide on his person that the Kasarans had not removed, before choosing a small laser. There were a few metal bars that emitted lasers themselves, but Westley had used his expertise to find the best spots to cut the steel.

"Major." Westley motioned John over and showed his incisions. The way he had cut the metal meant it looked the same until his very final cuts, and he was waiting for that approval. John gave him a single nod before returning to where Meredith was laying down on a cot, Tera beside her.

"Meredith, I didn't mean to hurt your back. Honest." John spoke gingerly, and Meredith opened her eyes for a moment before accepting some painkillers from Tera.

"I know, John, I know." She only sighed and stood up, before walking over to the cell door. Westley had informed them he was almost done, and so the team now huddled anxiously by the door.

Westley glanced at John once more, who gave him another nod of approval. Westley began the final cuts and put each bar down on the adjacent cot as he did so. With every bar, he heard a member of his team release the breath they hadn't known they were holding. On the final one, he released his breath, and realized that he hadn't known he was holding it either.

Westley pulled out a small taser, and taking careful aim, shot the guard 500 yards away. The guard went down silently, and Westley motioned his team into the hall, noting the very surprised looks of Tera and Meredith.

Araden moved ahead of him, her taser forward, until they reached a small closet at the end of the hall. Westley saw her snicker as she opened the door, and knew she was thinking the same thing as him- never leave a prisoner's weapons so near in proximity to the prisoners themselves. But they couldn't complain, as the gadgets on his weapons belt could not be found in the Pegasus Galaxy.

Now armed, the team began to move through the hallways with greater speed, and Meredith seemed to have recovered from her little spell, as she had her tablet back in use and was tracking the Kasaran life signs.

"Keep in mind they can become invisible." Westley nodded in confirmation to Meredith's words. "However, I don't think they can become invisible unless they are standing still-it is more like camouflage."

Westley stopped them at the next junction before turning to Meredith. "How do you know that?"

Meredith was about to reply when Tera stepped forward. "I know that because I can read Ancient. I read it in the database."

Westley looked at Tera with a newfound admiration. Already he was secretly awed with the doctor's medical abilities and optimistic personality though he could never admit it because of who he was and because of the tension between Tera and his sister. That did not mean, however, that he couldn't admire her from afar. He was about to comment something ingenious when the team heard a nearby beeping sound.

"Children of the Ancients! This is Commander Reccin of this battleship, the Tunesh. We know what you have done and that you have escaped. But you will not get far." There was a pause, and Westley used that moment to locate the device from which the sound emitted. It was a small red orb floating in the hallway, near the ceiling. The voice resumed. "Your flying device has been disabled. You have no way off this ship. But you can surrender. Surrender now and fix the problem you have created and you will not be harmed. You have 1 hour to turn yourself in, or we will begin firing on the planet. And we will hit Atlantis, eventually. Commander out."

Westley looked at the rest of his team, and saw his own expression mirrored on the faces of John and Araden. Meredith and Tera, however, looked downright terrified.

"John, John, what can we do?" Meredith moved to where John was thinking with a serious expression. He stuck his tongue in his cheek before opening his mouth to answer, but it was Westley who answered for him.

"We get off this damned battleship."

*Araden*

Araden looked over her shoulder to where Meredith was still messing with the cruiser ship they had found in the Flight Bay. In Araden's opinion, the woman was taking too long to bypass the security measures installed in the cruiser, but she could do nothing. She had originally tried to examine the schematics, but her major gave her no help in this one. She was completely lost. But she dared not admit it, instead grunting and standing at the door way to the hangar with her brother, ready to apprehend any one or thing that came through. Meredith, at the least, had installed some precautions that would make it difficult for one to open the doors.

John was pacing around the hangar with that nuisance Tera, looking for signs of the Jumper Araden knew they wouldn't find. The Kasarans had at least been thorough in that effort.

"McKay!" John called to Meredith, who Araden sincerely hoped would not become distracted from her task at hand. But the good doctor was, standing up while bracing her back and walking over to where John was admiring an admittedly sleek fighter jet.

Araden couldn't help but move closer, watching the two take in the marvelous fighter jet. It was shaped like an arrow, with a triangular front and thin back that looked almost like a wasp stinger. She was about to step closer when she recognized the familiar sound of gunfire. Instinctively, she turned, AT101 at the ready, but relaxed only slightly at the reminder that the door was sealed.

"Dr. McKay!" Araden called, moving closer to the door and taking up a position next to the door frame, opposite her brother. "How long do you expect this to hold?"

Meredith ran back to the cruiser with a nervous expression on her face. "Oh crap. Not long." She immediately returned to her work, and both Tera and John soon came to take up positions near Araden and Westley.

Moments later, the first of several purple bolts of energy made its way through the door, narrowly missing Tera, something that made Araden slightly unhappy. "Dr. McKay!" Araden warned, and she saw Meredith glance nervously at the door before hitting a few more buttons.

"Damn." Araden cursed. She glanced back over her shoulder, but Meredith had only moved to a more protected side of the cruiser before continuing work. However, the energy blast had started to come through more frequently now.

Only a few seconds had passed before a blob began to slime through the door, melting a large enough hole for others to follow it. Araden barely hesitated before shooting her AT101, which had been turned to energy, at the creatures. Only a few creatures had made it through before she had begun firing, so she hoped no more would follow. No luck.

The creatures kept pouring through, and one managed to throw a large blue pellet at Araden that burned a hole clean through her pistol holster, causing both the pistol and holster to fall to the ground. She cursed again, but moved away from the creatures as she remembered the extent of Meredith's injury.

"John!" Araden made the mistake of looking back to see John running to where Meredith had called him, to the open cruiser. When she felt a stabbing pain in her foot, she saw that a Kasaran had inched so closely that it was smothering her foot. She spared the Kasaran and her foot no injury, turning the AT101 on it until it slipped off the remains of her boot, dead. She only had a moment to glance at her hurt and bloody foot before slowly beginning a retreat towards the cruiser.

A few feet away, Westley was backing towards her, until their backs touched as they continued to shoot at the approaching creatures. Out of the corner of her eye, Araden saw Tera back into the cruiser, shooting Kasarans away from the door as she did so, and Araden allowed herself to be a fraction impressed.

"Westley." Araden looked at her brother in only a short glance, but that was all they needed to understand each other. She pulled out a smoke pearl, which disintegrated into smoke on impact, and threw it on the ground before turning tail and running up the ramp into the computer mouse shaped cruiser. She heard Westley right behind her, and continued firing into the fray of confused and approaching Kasarans as John noticed that everyone was inside and began closing the hatch.

Once the hatch was locked, Araden collapsed onto one of long seats in the back of the cruiser and put her injured foot up next to her. She only dimly remembered Meredith explaining to John how the cruiser could open the Flight Bay doors and the vision of Tera leaning over her, concerned, saying something about a large loss of blood, before she passed out.


	18. Chapter 17: Surprise

*Tera*

"The linguistics team can go to hell!" Tera yelled at Dr. Steven Drew as he jogged to keep up with her. Tera looked down at the woman she was wheeling into the infirmary. Her face was deathly pale and though Tera had used all the bandages in the Jumper to bandage her foot, it was bleeding heavily.

"Dr. Mal Doran, that isn't your call. They need you." Dr. Drew grabbed her shoulder, but Tera kept pushing the cot until it was aligned with a normal setup. She nodded for another doctor to administer painkillers and an IV drip. The doctor looked terrified and looked at Dr. Drew for confirmation. Tera saw the doctor sigh and nod. As much as he wanted to take over the care of Araden, he knew it was more important to save her life.

"Put her under." Tera said it simply as she dropped her vest to the floor and pulled on a set of scrubs a nurse handed her.

"Dr. Mal Doran. Listen to me right now." Dr. Drew was very angry and put his face close to hers as she put her hair back and put on a face mask. "I can handle this operation. I am the best surgeon in this Galaxy. You are needed by the linguistics team."

Tera ignored him, only pulling on gloves before sharply cutting off the remains of Araden's shoe and lower pant leg so she could better see the injury. She picked up a syringe of local anesthetic and applied it before looking up at the Doctor.

"Dr. Steven Drew. There are two other people who need you. Even you cannot handle three different people at once." It was true. When John and his team had been delayed on their return, another Gate team had been sent in a Jumper. The Kasarans had wasted no time blasting them out of the sky before their sensors had gone down. The Jumper had plummeted into the water and was saved by the shield and inertial dampeners that had not been destroyed. Nevertheless, when the Jumper was recovered, three people had died and the two survivors were in very bad condition.

Dr. Drew just took another glance at Tera, who had now begun probing for the proper place to instill the clamp on Araden's bleeding artery. He tried again. "Doctor. The linguistics people need you to see what they can find out about the Kasarans as soon as possible. You are one of their best hopes."

Tera installed the clamp in the proper place before carefully removing a piece of stray shrapnel from Araden's foot and calling for a blood transfusion. Then she turned to Dr. Drew. "Dr. Drew, I may have a major in Linguistics, but first and foremost, I took the Hippocratic Oath. First and foremost, I am a Doctor."

*Torren*

Torren stood in the Gateroom, next to Teal'c, increasingly nervous. Many times in the past few years he had gone to planets and discussed trade negotiations and peace-making negotiations. He had even helped set up the Intergalactic Peace Council, a group of people with representation from every one of the SGC's allies. But never before had he been attempting negotiation when the enemy was pointing twenty armed ships at you.

After his brother's team had installed the virus that had incapacitated the sensors of the Kasaran ships, Teal'c had implored Commander Antica to discuss with them. She had told them she would give them ten minutes of her time if her people on a different ship failed to capture John and his team by a certain time. Now John had returned, albeit with a very injured team member, and the hour John had been given was almost up. The Commander was due to call at any moment.

"Major O'Neill. Audio-visual transmission request." Chet said from his position, and Torren had to conceal how startled he was. The Major nodded briefly, then turned his eyes on Torren, as if to say, 'It's on you.' Torren didn't feel exactly reassured as most of the personnel in the room looked at him with the same expression. However, he caught the eye of one man, hanging back, with his sloppy gray hair and same mischievous look he had worn in this sort of situation thirty years ago, and Torren allowed himself a small grin. His stepfather, even at this age, was an inspiring figure.

"City of Atlantis. This is Commander Antica, leader of the Behar Kasarans. When I speak this foreign language, I speak for the Atten, Orth, and Vaugg Kasarans as well."

Torren reminded himself of how Meredith had claimed the Kasarans she had met had first spoken to her in an alien language, before reverting to English. He blinked as the Commander spoke again.

"Most usually we lie low, let the Galaxy grow around us- something we did even when your Ancestors, the Alterrans, roamed this Galaxy. But now, you have been charged with the destruction of the Cajree Kasarans. For this you must pay. What say you?"

Torren paused, alarmed by the ferocity of the Commander's words. He looked at the ground for a moment, before glancing at first Teal'c, and then his father. Teal'c's face was impassive, but General Sheppard, at the age of seventy, had an amused expression on his face, as if to say, 'Yes, what say you?' Torren could not help from laughing, but realized his mistake as Commander Antica's voice grew, if possibly, colder.

"What do you find so amusing, lowly Homo sapiens? The death of our kin is no laughing matter!"

Torren composed himself as Major O'Neill looked at him like he was insane. "No, dear Commander, it is not." He sobered up completely for his next words. "The death of any and all is a matter than must happen eventually, yet is sad when the time comes too soon. I extend my deepest and sincerest apologies, but it cannot be undone. We of Atlantis can only hope there is something we can do to earn your good graces." He bowed his head in a respectful gesture.

"That, my good sir, is a difficult request. However, you will find that we have a surprise waiting for you. A little present from the dead, you might say." The Commander looked at Torren thoughtfully before the transmission abruptly ended. Torren's jaw dropped. He had barely gotten anywhere before the transmission had ended. He glanced at his watch. That had certainly not been ten minutes.

A silence echoed around the Gateroom until Cassidy Woods finally dared to speak up. "Sir," She said, addressing Major O'Neill, "What present?"

Major O'Neill looked at her, then shrugged. He opened his mouth to speak when Chet spoke over him. "Major, we have a message from Dr. Meredith McKay to you and the Control Room personnel."

Jack nodded for Chet to open a channel, and Torren was included as he heard Meredith's familiar voice.

"Major O'Neill, Control Room personnel. We have some bad news. The Kasarans that were destroyed by AT-1 successfully implanted a virus with remote activation into our systems before their destruction. We were unable to detect it until now."

"Wait." Major O'Neill said. "What does it do, and why can you detect it now?"

Torren heard Meredith sigh, and he swore he could hear her bite her lip. "Well, Major, it slowly drains power from our three ZedPMs, making it difficult to maintain either the cloak or the shield. And in answer to your second question, Major, we can detect it now because it has become remotely activated. We are working on it, but we thought you should prepare for attack, since the Kasarans are going to be able to see one defenseless city really soon. McKay out."

The silence that had echoed around the Gateroom when Commander Antica had cut the transmission was nothing compared to the silence that ensued. Finally, Major O'Neill straightened with a forced grin on his face. "Whoop-de-doo. What a nice present. Looks like we should be expecting company, guys!"


	19. Chapter 18: Assault

**Author's Note: This is on the short side and more of a filler fic, but hopefully you all will hang in there.**

**Thanks for reading!**

John*

John activated his earcom while gazing up at the shield. Major O'Neill had ordered that the cloak be dropped and the shield raised, as Cassidy had detected an incoming stream of fighter jets. John looked through the hazy shield and nodded before speaking.

"Major O'Neill, this is Major Sheppard. The fighter jets are the same ones Dr. Mal Doran and I had a look at in the Flight Bay of the Mothership."

"Good. I suppose you can then inform our outposts on the best spots to hit them?" John barely even processed Jack's words before the earcom beeped and the transmission ended. John sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He supposed that Jack had more important things to do.

John walked over to the other end of the balcony, where a few marines were setting up long-range machine guns. John knew his father was supposed to be stepping back from the situation, but he was a little angry that the only thing the General had told them was the best places to install machine guns in the case of an aerial assault, a configuration that he and his team had once used to defend the city from a Wraith attack.

"Lieutenant." Lieutenant Gale Douglas stood up from the base of the machine gun as Sheppard approached. "Yes, sir, Major, sir." He raised his hand into a stiff salute, but John just waved him away.

John had heard things about the Lieutenant. He was always eager to please, and sometimes a little too much so, even doing the laundry of his senior officers. John also had heard that only a week ago, he had been on Dr. Rodney McKay's good side, until he had clumsily knocked a cup of coffee over onto computer with all the data Tera had managed to ascertain for Dr. McKay. Needless to say, Dr. McKay was not pleased.

"When those fighter jets come in range, you'll see they have a wasp-like stinger tail. Aim for that, it should send them spinning off balance. Pass it on." John walked by the Lieutenant, who was still standing in a silent salute, and walked back inside the city, wondering why such a bumbling idiot was in charge of a machine gun.

*Jack*

Jack was in the Gateroom when the first fighter jet hit the shield. He had been talking with Chet, but the force of the impact was so much that the entire Control Tower visibly shook.

Jack grabbed a hold of the nearest device- which just happened to be the DHD- and accidently encoded a chevron. Chet raised an eyebrow, but said nothing before deactivating the chevron. Jack just looked at Cassidy, whose face was screwed up into an expression of both confusion and surprise.

"Sir." Cassidy gave Jack a quick glance. "That first fighter jet was going at 3,000 mph. That isn't even that fast- the shield should have stopped us from feeling anything." She hit a few more keys. "Sir, the reason we felt it is because Dr. McKay has collapsed the shield as close to the city as possible to keep it from using as much power."

Jack groaned. Already their power was being drained. They couldn't afford to waste so much of the ZPMs, but they also couldn't afford to just let the city be hit. He turned to Chet and asked him to open a secure channel to the Firebird, Orpheus, and Swan Lake.

"Colonels Fokine, Lincoln, and Archa, please engage the enemy ships. However, keep it mainly defensive. O'Neill out." Jack didn't wait for a response, there was no time, he had to contact both Dr. McKays and determine various other things.

The Control Tower shook again as another series of fighter jets hit the shield. Jack knew that their Kamikaze runs were only an attempt to weaken the shield and nothing more.

"Dr. Rodney McKay!" O'Neill used the secure channel to contact Rodney, who was on the Firebird, making some changes to the Alpha jets with a science team.

"Yes, Major."

"How close are you to finishing the new program for the Alpha jets?" Jack gave up trying to stand and just sat down in a technician's chair as the tower shook again.

"Well, I probably would have finished by now, but some Dr. Cupboard has no idea what he is doing and completely went about it the wrong way! These nitwits are screwing me up!"

Jack sighed at the unfortunate name, before trying again. "Well, how close are you? We aren't exactly having a party down here, either, Dr. McKay!" Then he snickered. They had received a present, no matter how unwelcome.

"Yes, yes, I'll be done soon. McKay out."

Jack nodded. Now they could get somewhere. "Cassidy!" The woman looked up at him immediately. "Yes, sir."

"Alert the pilots still on base that they will be beaming up to the ships soon and should be prepared and in the Gateroom in ten." Jack didn't wait for a response, yet again.

"Dr. Meredith McKay!" Jack barely waited for the beep signifying the doctor's presence on the earcom before continuing. "How goes the power repairs?"

"Major O'Neill, sir, not very well." Meredith sounded preoccupied. "Dr. Bell and I have configured an external unit from the city to bypass the power and run the ZedPM cables through there instead of the city mechanisms that have been exposed to the virus, but it is quite possible that the external drive may overload with the force of three ZedPMs. I have other people working on other solutions, though it appears that the interface of the ZedPMs is very precarious, that when tampered with-" Jack ended the transmission. He had no time to listen to scientific mumbo-jumbo. What he could tell was that they were still working on it, and that was all he cared to hear.

"Major Sheppard!" he barked, at the man who had just walked into the Control Room. John looked startled but waited expectantly.

"Get a team of Marines together led by Westley. We're going to need them to do internal sabotage."

Jack began walking to the office that had been first Dr. Weir's, then Carter's, Woolsey's, General Sheppard's, and now his, and a surprised John had to jog to catch up to him. "Sir? Why is Westley leading the sabotage? Shouldn't I…?" He trailed off as Jack whipped around.

"You'll be operating the Chair, Major, and I suggest you begin operating before the shield fails." Jack turned back around and slammed the door to his office before flopping down onto a couch and closing his eyes.


	20. Chapter 19: Hope

**Author's Note: So sorry for the delay in updates, I was having an unpleasant mixture of writer's block and reader's want (Where all you want to do is read, particularly the entire Harry Potter series). But we're back, and the Kasaran threat should be winding down soon. **

**Wow, this is a really long chapter- at least in comparison to my previous ones! We get four different points of view, and what I think is a sweet ending. Also, a little Kasaran blood is shed. I hope you enjoy it, and again, thanks for reading!**

**Today, those of you who keep with the story get virtual nutella brownies, something I tried making yesterday, and they turned out pretty great! Reviewers get seconds. :)**

*Meredith*

"Dr. Cupboard, the external unit, please!" Meredith snapped at the scrawny scientist as she walked by. It had been only a few minutes since the kamikaze runs had begun, but the shield was falling fast and the vibrations had become more noticeable.

At last, her father had finished the Alpha Jets reconfigurations that allowed them to be flown more finely than before, and perhaps easier, and the Alpha, Beta, and Gamma units were all deployed and currently intercepting various Kasaran fighters. Major Sheppard was also using the Chair to hit as many of the missed ones with drones as possible, for which Meredith was very grateful. Had the Alpha pilots and the Major not taken up their various positions, so many of the Kasarans would have been able to get through that shield would have already failed.

Meredith was confused, however, at the principle of the kamikaze runs. For a race of people struggling to take revenge for their dead, she had no idea why they would sacrifice so many more of their people. She had her answer when she stormed by a large screen.

"Bell, what are you doing?" She knocked a technician aside in order to view the screen better. He looked at her confused, about to explain how he was running the last minute diagnostics on the external unit configurations as she had instructed, when she shook her head and pointed at the corner of the screen. "Who the hell are they?"

But she knew. On the life-signs map of the city, she knew who the hell were the unidentified life-signs swarming up from the southern unit of the city. The Kasarans had no ID chips, and they were pouring in numbers into the city, appearing every minute, timed exactly with the explosion of a Kasaran fighter jet. And they were all originating from a single source.

"Why is the Underwater Jumper Bay still not fixed, people? It's been thirty years!" Meredith groaned. It was all together likely the Kasarans were dropping out of their fighter jets upon entrance to the atmosphere, landing in the water, and swimming in their water-like form to the Jumper Bay. She had not expected the Bay to still be in this state, and the shield had retracted from that area of the city. She had also turned off the life-signs capabilities of the shield, meaning any life form could get through it, not expecting the Kasarans to literally walk right into the city.

"Major O'Neill, this is Dr. McKay." Meredith turned the earcom channel on mentally while moving through the bustling personnel to her own workstation.

"Yes." Jack sounded very weary, but Meredith ignored it, continuing on.

"Kasarans have invaded the southern corridors of the city. I suggest teams of marines armed with stun weapons only. Regular bullets will do them no harm. Dr. McKay out."

Meredith brought up the shield and energy display on her computer and located the various shield properties. Biting her lip, she reluctantly enabled the life-signs one, knowing that they had no time to fix the Bay, and it was better to have the Kasarans degrade on impact of the shield than enter the city unopposed.

She waited for the computer to inform her that the process of re-enactment was complete, biting her lip again as she saw how much the power supply had dropped only by re-engaging that system.

*Westley*

Westley gave what he hoped was a surreptitious glance at his sister Araden. However, she caught his look, and her face that was contorted with pain now gave him an angry glare. If it had been Westley's choice, Araden would have remained in the infirmary. But it wasn't. All the scientists were busy dealing with the energy problem, and couldn't be spared. Westley had kicked himself for even suggesting Araden accompany him on the internal sabotage.

Creeping along the corridor of one of the Kasaran Motherships with a team of marines, Westley noticed that Dr. Mal Doran did nothing to hide her disappointment in her patient. She stalked behind Araden, arms crossed, brow furrowed, angry that another of her patients in serious condition wanted to jump out of bed and run around enemy territory.

As the kamikaze runs continued and the three Earth ships engaged the twenty Kasaran ones, the Flight Bay doors of the Motherships continued to open, periodically releasing fighter jets. It was in one of these openings that a marine had navigated their Puddle Jumper into the bay.

Westley evidently had paused too long at the next corner, as Araden simply limped around him, her foot in the boot making a much louder sound than she wanted. She held a tablet in front of her, continuing down the hallway, until they had reached a doorway.

"Can you get in?" Westley whispered in his sister's ear, barely more than a breath. She raised an eyebrow at him before speaking in a normal voice.

"Yes. The Kasarans and Ancients must have been pretty chummy, because as I found out on our last voyage, a lot of their systems operate the same." She pulled a cord from her pocket before deftly connecting it to both the doorframe and her tablet. She pressed a button on the screen and the door slid up into the ceiling.

"Alright. Burns, Davidson, Tooley, Brand. We're supposed to destroy the energy source, so listen for Araden's instructions on where to hit it." Westley said, walking backwards into the room after Araden, talking to the marines.

"I don't think we'll need to do that, Wes." Araden said, and Westley saw surprise, the first emotion besides anger, on Tera's face before he turned around. "Why, Araden?"

Westley blinked at the dais before him, and Araden gave him a snarky glance over her shoulder before throwing her hand out to point at the brightly colored crystals. "Because they use ZPMs!"

*Torren*

Torren was ready to abandon all hope when the thundering torment of kamikaze runs stopped. He lifted his gaze from glancing at his floor-length tunic to the glass door the balcony of the Gateroom. He moved towards it, and simultaneously heard the bang of Major O'Neill throwing his door open and stalking out of his office. Torren walked slowly to the balcony, but Major O'Neill brushed by him, banging his hand roughly against the entrance modem and squeezing through the doorway as soon as enough room was available.

Torren stepped out onto the balcony, and his brief hope faded. The fighter jets continued to pound against the shield, only it seemed that now the shield was moving away from the city walls, returning to its normal state. The men manning the machine guns on the balcony had been instructed not to use the machine guns when the shield was so close to the building, but they leapt up as the shield moved farther and farther away.

Major O'Neill had only taken a brief glance at the shield before storming back into the Control Room without a word. Torren returned slowly inside to catch the end of a transmission echoing around the Control Room.

"—Normal position and caliber, but because of the sensitivities of the external unit, we don't know how long the shield can last with the severely depleted ZPMs. We'll let you know. Dr. McKay out."

Jack stood near Chet, looking thoughtful, and opened his mouth to say something when three flashes of light poured in through the open door to the balcony, temporarily blinding everyone in the room.

"It's a Kasaran attack tactic!" Torren heard someone yell, though he highly doubted it. Instead of dropping to the floor as he heard many personnel do, he blinked a few times to clear his vision before walking back out to the balcony.

Torren gazed out into the starry night sky, and saw Major O'Neill walk up beside him from the corner of his eye. Torren gazed at the Kasaran Mothership wreckage floating around three shielded F-306s, and was only barely able to hear the Major murmur, "That's three down, only seventeen to go."

*John*

Sitting in the Chair for what must have been the millionth time in his life, John breathed a sigh of relief. Of the million times he had sat in the Chair, only one of them had required him to actually use drones and fight the enemy. However, as the volley of fighter jets slowed and three ships exploded, he felt that they might actually win this thing.

Before Atlantis had returned to the Pegasus galaxy, private Earth corporations had determined how to replicate the city's drones, and had restocked the entire storage. Still, John felt as if he had used a rather large majority of them on taking out the fighter jets alone. He shivered at the thought that only a few races of the Kasarans were attacking Atlantis. Who knew how many more existed?

At a request personally delivered by Meredith, John had sealed several corridors around the Underwater Jumper Bay, in attempt to slow down the stream of Kasarans to an amount more possible to handle for the various marines. John could feel rather than see the Kasarans leaning against the doors, dissolving the material in their blob-like states. But he could not do much else but simply hold them up- or else risk the lives of Atlantis personnel.

John moved his focus back to the Motherships in the sky as the city urgently warned him. A Mothership had broken formation and was slowly descending into the atmosphere. He watched it curiously for a moment, wondering what its plans were, when it began to turn molten red, and flames burst around it.

He then realized it was heading straight on course for Atlantis, as the city had tried to warn him. He almost laughed at their crazy kamikaze plan, unsure whether the ship was shot and they were simply trying to make use of it, or all the people had simply exited the ship. Whatever the explanation, it was gaining speed, turning steadily more molten and on fire.

Thinking quickly, he examined the ship in his mind's eye and struck the most fragile parts with drones. Pieces broke off from the massive burning fireball, but the main portion of the ship had collapsed into a large ball that he could not make any smaller. Should the ship hit the city's shields, they would surely fail.

Not knowing what else to do, he fired several drones vertically into the air before collecting them into a cluster. Feeling sweat pouring down his face, he aimed the large cluster at the front edge, and as the drones hit the falling ship, it swerved and went down next to the city, creating a huge wave that washed over the shield, nearing the top before relaxing.

John could seemingly feel the water as it washed over him, and he took a deep breath before opening his eyes. If he had not been so exhausted, he would have yelped at the sight of the cold, wet cloth over his face. He narrowed his eyes and was able to pick out a familiar woman with brown hair and bright blue eyes, only a foot away from his face.

He opened his mouth to speak, but Meredith shushed him before putting the cloth down next to her, on a tray. "John, it's okay. You did it. You're done." She helped him up from the Chair, and it returned to its upright position, powerless. She had his arm around her shoulders in no time and began leading him to the door.

He was confused. He was terribly exhausted, but he knew the fight wasn't over yet. There were still sixteen ships floating around menancingly. And shouldn't Meredith be fixing some technical problem?

"Mer—" He broke off as his voice caused his throat to hurt. She lifted him off her shoulders and faced him expectantly. "What's going on?" He took a deep breath, his throat hurting painfully. "Why aren't you with the scientists?"

Meredith gave him a small smile. "My father beamed down and is now being his bossy, egotistical, self in the Science Department. As for what's going on—" She broke off and looked down while biting her lip. "Well, you clearly are in no state to continue operating the Chair, and as all the others with the gene are either flying Alpha Jets or working in the control room, I've been elected to take turns with you until this whole mess is over." She gave him a sad smile, and he sighed, closing his eyes for a few seconds before opening them.

"Get some rest, John. This isn't over." She continued to look at him sadly before leaning forwards and placing a small, but sweet kiss on his cheek. She then walked back over to the Chair, leaning back and closing her eyes with a look of resolute determination, as John stroked the spot on his cheek where he could still feel the echo of her kiss.


	21. Chapter 20: Destruction

**Author's Note: I'd like to apologize for a significant blunder in the previous chapter. As I was rereading it, I noticed that Meredith went from calling it a ZedPM to calling it a ZPM. Oh, the horror! Meredith was supposed to be taught most of what she knew from her father, so it should have been ZedPM. If no one noticed, then carry on! Otherwise, I apologize. I also apologize, again, for any grammatical or spelling errors. I don't use a beta, but I noticed that I sometimes forget whole words.**

**Another Note: At one point, Westley signs off as S.O. Dex. In case you bloody brilliant people can't figure it out, it means Special Operative.**

**Thanks for not being rude about any mistakes everyone- I really appreciate it. I also, as always, appreciate you taking you time to read the stories of the Stargate Programs best children.**

**Tally ho! The end approaches!**

*Araden*

Araden bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from groaning at the pain. After Tera had performed a complicated surgery and blood transfusion on her foot, she had woken to the most pain she had ever felt in her life- even more than when the Russian mob had chased her and Westley across Spain and she had sustained a knife to her thigh (Don't ask).

Though Araden's pride and ego would never let her admit it, she was secretly touched at Tera's role in the surgery, and her subsequent accompaniment of Araden onto the Kasaran Mothership. Tera had seemed gruff and angry at first, stalking around, not bothering to be quiet, but now that they had found the ZPMs, Tera was looking at them with near reverence, admiring the orange-gold glow.

"So, Araden, can we take them?" Westley came up next to her, almost startling her. She blinked a little before looking back at the tablet she held for reference. She had run several procedures and programs to determine the amount of power in the ZPMs, and it was fairly substantial. Should they take these ZPMs, the shield on Atlantis would be able to last for days, under fire.

She nodded, but was about to say something else when Lieutenant Brand reached forwards and pushed the buttons that ejected the several ZPMs. She gasped in horror as a laser beam immediately hit him between the eyes and he crumpled to the ground.

Tera ran to the Lieutenant, but her face fell and she closed her eyes. Westley blinked, but as a hissing sound started, and an alarm soon followed, he grabbed the three crystals and pulled Sergeants Tooley and Davidson towards the door. Tera began dragging Brand's body with the help of Lieutenant Burns, but Araden called for Tera over the wailing alarm.

"There's no time, Dr. Mal Doran! The door is closing!" Araden yanked up Tera and scrambled to the door, sliding under with her practiced ease. Tera was inching her way under, but Araden could see her coughing at the poisonous gas that had begun to fill the room. Araden dropped the tablet; sure it could sustain itself with the magnetic force, and used her strong arms to pull Tera through. Tera continued to cough, but motioned at the doorway. The door was almost closed, but Araden could see the slumped figure of Lieutenant Burns right inside to doorway. Tera dived for his hand and began to pull him to the doorway, but the door was almost shut. The door began to fall down on her arm, and Araden pulled her out as fast as she could, but not before she heard a crack.

When Araden's head finally cleared from the gas from the room, she felt Westley helping her up. Next to her, Tera was cradling what looked like a broken arm, eyes wide with shock. Sergeants Tooley and Davidson were leaning against the opposite wall, glaring at the door that had closed two of their team members off from them.

The alarm was still wailing, and as Westley seemed to be the only one moderately clear headed, he put the ZPMs into a large black sack, and motioned for them all to follow him, guns out.

Araden helped Tera down the hall, who was still cradling her broken arm, and a small tear slipped out of the corner of her eye, something she had not allowed herself to do since the age of ten.

*Jack*

"Dammit, Westley!" Jack pounded the nearest device near him- which again happened to be the DHD- and encoded three chevrons. Chet looked at him ruefully before disengaging the Gate.

The whole Control Room heard Westley sigh sadly. "We just can't go on, Major, sir. Tera had a broken arm and two of our men are dead. We thought taking the ZPMs would disable the ship, but they clearly have a back up energy supply. Araden thinks she can sabotage this ship, and then we're coming back. S.O. Dex out."

Jack groaned, then looked angrily around the Control Room, where the personnel were all awaiting his instructions. "Go on, then!" He grumbled, and they all returned to what they had been doing, avoiding his eyes.

"Major O'Neill, sir." Jack gave Chet a lazy glance. "The Orpheus is requesting a secure channel." Jack leaned over Chet as he engaged the channel and swiveled the screen o face Jack.

Jack blinked at the scene in front of him. Lt. Colonel Lincoln was surrounded by several fires and sparking gadgets. "Major O'Neill! The Orpheus' shield has collapsed and both our weapons and hyperdrive are offline. I'm beaming my crew onto The Firebird and The Swan Lake and then beaming myself down!" He batted away at a fire beginning to grow on his shirt sleeve."Fortunately, sir, we've managed to take out three more ships! Colonel Lincoln out."

Jack didn't even bother moving, just studying Chet's expression of sadness breeded with confusion before trying to copy it. He furrowed his brow and crossed his eyes, before screwing his nose up and opening his mouth in a typical what-is-going-on expression. He didn't know why he did it, but Chet happened to glance at him and now looked thoroughly confused.

"Um, Major, sir, are you alright?"

Jack straightened his face before standing up and brushing off his uniform. "Of course, Chet, I'm fine. What makes you think otherwise?"

Chet looked puzzled before copying the look that Jack had copied from him. "You made this face, sir."

Jack gave him an amused expression. "Did I?" He said, raising his eyebrow. Chet opened his mouth to say something else, but Jack turned around and walked to where Colonel Lincoln had beamed in.

"Thirteen, sir, thirteen." Was all the charred Reed Lincoln said. Jack nodded.

"How much longer do you think The Firebird and The Swan Lake can hold up?"

Lt. Colonel Lincoln took off his hat and brushed some ashes from it before looking nervously at Jack. "The Firebird, not all that long. Maybe a few hours at the most. Their hyperdrive is out. The Swan Lake is doing well, however. They still have their hyperdrive."

Jack looked confused. "Why are the Kasarans targeting your hyperdrives?"

Lincoln looked pained at having to say his next words. "Well, sir, it was Colonel… Archa's idea, really. Pretty good, too." He mumbled, not willing to speak highly of his adversary. Jack looked at him pointedly, and Lincoln continued on. "Yes, she had read a mission report… where a Traveler ship with General Sheppard on board had been faced with a ship that opened up a hyperdrive window, flew through it, and dropped back out of hyperspace only a few seconds later, virtually reappearing behind the Traveler ship. Colonel… Archa… um… decided to use the same idea on the Kasarans. They were not pleased."

Jack had to laugh at Kathryn Archa's creativity. That woman was something. If they ever made it out of this mess, he would have to arrange an… ahem… professional meeting between the two of them.

Jack nodded for the Colonel to go clean up, before walking onto the balcony. He arrived in time to see two more Kasaran ships explode, and throwing back his head, he laughed a long laugh, sure that the entire Control Room personnel must think he was nuts, something that only made him laugh harder.


End file.
